Special Voting: Lydia Alhassan requested that we share the food.

After a video surfaced of her and her constituency women's organiser offering food to voters during the Special Voting exercise on Monday, December 2, 2024, Lydia Seyram Alhassan, the Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon, justified her actions.

The MP was observed giving food packages to people in the voting queue during the incident, which took place at the Legon Police Station polling station and provoked public discussion on voter influence and electoral ethics.

Lydia Alhassan denied accusations of malevolent intent in an interview with Bernard Avle on Citi FM's Breakfast Show on Tuesday, December 3, saying that her acts were motivated solely by compassion. She clarified that the incident started when a staff member in wait asked for water. The water was supplied by her women's organiser, and the MP gave the gesture to everyone who seemed hungry or exhausted after noticing others in need.

I chose to give the food to the people in queue since I believed that some of them will be in need of it after I had served my people. Did you witness me distributing food to those waiting in queue? When the woman with me received a request for water, she gave it to two other individuals who also needed it, despite her best efforts to deliver it to the original requester. John Dumelo, her political rival, was among the critics who questioned whether this action would be interpreted as an effort to sway voters.

Nevertheless, Lydia Alhassan denied these allegations and highlighted that she had merely visited the polling place as a stakeholder to keep an eye on the voting procedure and make sure everything was going as planned.

I had to be present as a stakeholder to supervise the procedure. In addition to serving the media members in attendance, we sent snacks especially for our agents. The goal was to make sure that everyone who helped with the voting process was taken care of," she said.

Speaking on the fallout from her visit, Lydia Alhassan stated that she had departed the area prior to any more events. She denied claims that she was there when John Dumelo responded to the reports of food sharing. I was there to oversee the process since I had to be there as a stakeholder. We also provided lunch for our agents and even served the media.

"I was informed that there had been an incident after I left, but I wasn't present. When questioned about it, I claimed that I wasn't close by and therefore didn't know anything about it. Later, I came across a video of my opponents yelling at me."