The Member of Parliament (MP) elect for the Akwatia Con­stituency in the Eastern Region, Mr Bernard Bediako Baidoo, says he will focus on the development of the constituency through the establishment of various develop­mental projects in the area.

According to him, although Akwatia was known for mining, the constituency had remained underdeveloped for years and lacked the needed infrastructural development.

Mr Baidoo said this in a media interview after his declaration by the Electoral Commission (EC) as the winner of the Akwatia by-election that was held on Tuesday and monitored by The Ghanaian Times.

“Akwatia’s name has always been regards to mining. We can­not take away the mining, but we have to do it lawfully. Where we are having the coalition right now is ECG Power Land. Just before President Mahama came to power, the place was in darkness. But today, we have electricity, and it is the first step towards getting ECG back on track, which can employ thousands of people,” Mr Baidoo stated.

According to him, his victory in the by-election was as a result of the hard work and the cam­paign messages he presented to the electorate, which focused on development in the area.

“The confidence has always been there. It is not just mere confidence out of noting. It was borne out of the good job we have done. After engaging the people, we read their reactions to the message we gave them. We saw it has really imbibed; they gave us hope, which has resulted in what we are seeing today,” Mr Baidoo added.

Mr Baidoo, who contested on the ticket of the National Demo­cratic Congress (NDC), obtained 18,199 out of the 33,819 total votes cast, as against 15,235 votes obtained by Mr Solomon Kwame Asumadu of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Also, a total number of 303 re­jected ballots was recorded at the end of the by-election that was held on Tuesday and monitored by The Ghanaian Times.

The paper also observed that voter turnout was low, as the total number of registered voters, 52,328 voters were expected to cast their votes at 119 polling stations.

The declaration of the election results by the EC sparked a wild jubilation among the supporters of the NDC as they celebrated across the various streets of Ak­watia. This included the blowing of vuvuzelas and tooting sounds from vehicles.

The Akwatia by-election was necessitated by the death of Mr Ernest Kumi, the MP of the Con­stituency, two months ago.