A middle-aged woman who con­tested the recently held District Assembly and Unit Committee Elec­tions has reportedly been sacked from her matrimonial home.

Memunatu Mahama is said to have been divorced by her husband because she defied him and went into the contest.

She contested but lost in the Mandari Electoral Area, which is about 12km west of Bole, President Mahama's hometown.

It is also alleged that her husband has gone ahead to marry another woman just a week after she lost the contest.

Memunatu told Mahama Haruna, the Public Relations Officer of Gonja-land Youth Association, that her hus­band was allegedly pressured by some opinion leaders to get her to step down for the men in the contest and when she refused, she was divorced.

According to the PRO, the lady said that her husband had com­plained that women who contested elections and worked in the midst of men were taken advantage of by the men and so she should step down to avoid harassment.

However, she insisted that her decision to contest should not be interpreted as challenging or stand­ing up to men in the community and that there was no way anyone could take advantage of her when she even­tually won.

Memu­natu told the PRO she was contest­ing because she felt that she was capable of bringing develop­ment to her people.

According to her, she also wanted to be the first woman to contest an election in the Mandari community where decision-making is dominated by men and perhaps to draw the attention of people in the community to gender inequality and affirmative action, which is an effort to include every aspect of the society in decision-making.

The husband had reportedly insisted that she had the option to withdraw her candidature or risk los­ing her marriage.

Memunatu said she initially did not take her husband's threat seriously, since it would be absurd for her husband to divorce her just for contesting a district assembly election.

She said her husband appeared to have carried out his threat when he stopped giving her money for her upkeep and, without informing her, went ahead to marry another woman a week after she lost the assembly election.

"I am jobless for now and I large­ly depended on my husband. I am praying to get a job and take care of myself and give the rest to God," she was quoted by the PRO as saying in a choking voice.