Okudzeto explains how North Tongu recorded huge turnout even with security presence

Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has revealed that as part of measures to ensure civilians were not intimidated by the huge presence of military and police, he embarked on public education in his constituency ahead of the just-ended polls, urging them to show up in their numbers to vote.

He said he took it upon himself to meet with commanders of the security personnel and chiefs of various communities to ensure that people are not intimated by the presence of the security personnel as they needed each other before, during and after elections.

These, he says, are some of the strategies he used to ensure that his constituents came out in their numbers to vote on the election day even with the huge presence of police and military men deployed in the Volta Region due to the recent disturbances by secessionists.

“The military were there in their numbers same as police personnel and contingents from immigration so there was full deployment but what we did was that, we embarked on a public education and in this deployment, the civilian and uniformed interactions is important. As an MP I went to meet their commanders and built confidence while I added the chiefs and community leaders to have an understanding that this should not lead to tensions as we needed each other,” he told Kwame Tikese on Okay FM.

“… so the confidence-building process helped us and also public education was embarked on especially for the women and the elderly, for them to understand that security personnel around should not lead to intimidation. They should go about their duties normally and they should come out in their numbers and vote as they are not violating the law by doing that. Public education helped and going round with the commanders also helped a lot. And this led to the needed confidence and the civility that needed to exist between civilians and security personnel,” He added

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa will be serving for the third time in parliament in North Tongu after winning his seat on December 7, 2020.

The New Patriotic Party’s Parliamentary candidate obtained 4,086 of the total votes cast and the National Democratic Congress’ parliamentary candidate, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa obtained 39, 294 of the total votes cast.