Member of Parliament for the Manhyia South Constituency, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has revealed how much work he had to put in to secure his seat in the august house.

Speaking on Metro TV’s ‘Good Evening Ghana’, he sought to clear the perception that he won the contest comfortably because his area is considerably a stronghold of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Mr. Opoku Prempeh who is also the Education Minister, won massively with 27,923 votes as against his contender, Abubakar Sulemana, who polled some 5,292 votes on the ticket on the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

A question posed to him by Host, Paul Adom Otchere about how easy it was to retain his seat got the MP who is usually known as Napo, detailing some tactics he had to deploy to win.

“That is what I want you to take out of your mind, quick and fast. It is not automatic that I am there, it is hard work. Do you know that this election, we banged on the door of every house, there are 1,647 houses in my constituency and we banged on every house 8 times. You don’t have to take people for granted, when the rulers of the air have set an agenda against my government, you have to go in all humility to explain.

“Don’t think that the free SHS should be automatic. Free SHS, didn’t NDC people take their children to school? And didn’t they still vote for the NDC? So if you want the votes, you will have to make sure the person understands,” he added

Citing how other colleagues in similar stronghold areas lost their seats to their opponents because of other factors, Mr Opoku Prempeh maintained the need for every MP to be consistent and forceful.t



“Have you heard the phrase all politics is local. So you can never pinpoint what made me win and translate it to another constituency that made an MP like mine lose. One of the finest gentlemen in this parliament was the Ledzokuku MP, Okoe Boye, one of the serious advocates for his constituents but he lost, so you can’t say Manhyia.

“There were parts of Manhyia I could not go and knock on the doors till they started doing the roads. And when they started doing the roads, the people were very grateful, they started cooking for the people doing the roads. So you don’t sit back and take for granted me, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, sitting in parliament because another colleague of mine in safe seat, didn’t,’ he further stated.