Hajj Season 1445 AH (2024)

●       The Hajj journey between spiritual bliss ..... and the harshness of human injustice!

●       Episode No. (14)

●       In the absence of effective accountability in the management of the sacred Hajj seasons over past decades, the same violations.. the same deviations, and manifestations of negligence and indifference, continue to recur in the absence of oversight, justice, transparency, and responsible accountability!

●       It is not fair... that in every Hajj season, and over previous years, all these violations and deviations recur....which indicate a systematic squandering of pilgrims’ rights, and a decline of the values that should govern and befit this sacred season!

●       The audit report of the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) on the operations of the Hajj season for 1445H, and participation in the Committee for Renting Pilgrim Accommodation, and the Committee for Renting and Receiving Transportation Buses, disclosed the magnitude of repeated violations and corruption in Hajj seasons across the years, in the absence of oversight and real accountability. There is much ongoing negligence, chaos and indifference, violations, suffering, injustice, and exploitation of pilgrims in the management of the Hajj seasons...!

●       Among the most prominent recurring substantive observations cited by the audit report:

●       Accommodation and transportation services for the Hajj season:

1-     Lack of coordination among the concerned parties in some committee activities, such as the absence of a representative of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities from some meetings!

2-     The absence of a written procedural manual by the ministry to organize the work of rental committees, leading to overlapping tasks and increasing the likelihood of ill-considered decisions!

3-     The absence of clear criteria for hotel selection, and the adoption of the "circuit" method, could expose the rental process to non-transparency and increase the risks of bid leakage or the making of ill-considered decisions!

4-     The large number of committee members, and the repeated reliance on individuals in the committees, led to increased costs and weak transparency and effectiveness in task allocation!

5-     The failure of "driver assistants" to fulfill their duties in external transportation, due to weak contractual procedures!

6-     Some camp equipment and services provided to pilgrims in Mecca and Medina resulted in a decline in service levels and increased their suffering during the Hajj season!

●       Registers of pilgrim lists and registration mechanisms:

1-     The existence of discrepancies and inconsistencies between administrative decisions and the final pilgrims’ rosters, and the absence of clear determinants and fair weights in the electronic lottery, in addition to discrepancies in the number of registrants between allocated and actual quotas in some residential clusters!

2-     There are cases of lottery winners without having submitted official applications, which indicates weak supervisory links over the pilgrim selection process and affects the fairness and transparency of the selection procedures!

3-     There is weakness in the system for registering and documenting pilgrims’ data in terms of duplicate names and identity numbers across different lists, including repeated names in the special-cases roster and the lottery winners’ lists!

4-     Weak governance and documentation of the process for selecting special cases within the Hajj season due to the absence of clear criteria!

●       Hajj Committee at the Ministry of Endowments

1-     The absence of signatures of all Hajj Committee members on some meeting minutes reflects weak compliance with organizational procedures, which may affect the credibility of decisions taken and negatively impact the implementation of related procedures!

2-     The ministry’s repeated resort to direct procurement in emergency situations without activating competitive mechanisms indicates shortcomings in advance planning for risk management!

●       Companies qualified to operate in the Hajj season 1445

1-     The lack of clear criteria to regulate the work of Hajj companies within coalitions negatively affected the quality of services provided!

2-     The absence of conditions clarifying the role and responsibilities of each company in the coalition caused confusion among pilgrims, increasing problems in service delivery and unclear sharing of responsibilities among companies!

●       Placement of pilgrims in Mecca hotels and the Hajj mission headquarters

-         Weak planning and inconsistency between official rosters and the actual placement at the hotel of the Hajj mission headquarters!

●       Substitutions:

1-     The existence of repetition and overlap in pilgrim substitution operations leads to a lack of accuracy in managing substitute lists and affects the final number of substitutes!

2-     It was found that some pilgrims were substituted by more than one replacement without clear criteria, and repetition of some pilgrims’ names was observed!

3-     The inclusion of persons not listed in any waiting lists or among lottery winners within the substitutes’ list, including cases recorded for the Hajj season 1445, even though they did not win the lottery!

4-     Some individuals were registered as substitutes twice in different lists, and some people were substituted by more than one replacement, or the replacement was substituted again. In addition, it was found that names of persons not registered for the Hajj season were included!

5-     Discrepancies between Ministry of Endowments data and the "Masar" program data regarding the number of visas, the numbers of pilgrims and mission members, and passport numbers; there were also missing entered data and incorrect registration of information for a number of pilgrims!

●       Official missions accompanying the pilgrims to the House of God

1-     A lack of clear instructions defining the tasks and competencies of the media mission accompanying the pilgrims!

2-     The absence of medical staff in the pilgrims’ city, in addition to the lack of an approved protocol to organize the mission’s work!

3-     The absence of precise task distribution and definition for each member of the administrative mission!

4-     The selection of guides from outside the ministry’s employees or from outside the public service, which leads to weak accountability and monitoring mechanisms and weakens follow-up of the guides’ performance!

5-     Repeated approvals to transfer Ministry of Endowments employees to become members of the Hajj mission after they won the lottery!

6-     The absence of official documents to record employees accredited by Hajj companies increases the likelihood of manipulation in granting "administrative replacement" permits and increases the chances of their use for illegal purposes, such as selling them or exploiting them in unauthorized ways!!

7-     Weakness in planning and organizing the recovery of fees and the distribution of financial services to pilgrims!

●       Key recurring recommendations of the audit report of the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB)

●       The report recommended the necessity of strengthening fairness and transparency in Hajj procedures and developing the electronic lottery system through a set of regulatory and supervisory measures, foremost of which are: ensuring the attendance of all rental committee members, setting clear criteria for selecting hotels and companies according to price, location, and service quality, tightening oversight of drivers’ and assistants’ performance, and obligating companies to equip tents and provide guides. The development of the electronic lottery system also includes fair determinants (age, number of registrations), auditing winners’ records, with a careful review of final rosters, preventing the inclusion of ineligible or duplicate names, in addition to setting criteria for special cases with a defined ceiling for each season.

●       The report also recommended soliciting price offers from airlines and suppliers and adopting detailed criteria for selecting qualified companies with defined responsibilities within clear agreements. It stressed amending the instructions governing the tasks of media and administrative missions and establishing transparent rules for selecting guides and mission members from employees, in addition to obligating companies to officially document their administrative staff!