Woman divorced for contesting Assembly Election

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 was 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.

To make matters worse, her husband who resides in Sawla, also near Bole, allegedly married another woman just a week after she lost the contest.

Memunatu told Mahama Haruna, the Public Relations Officer of Gonjaland 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 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.

The PRO quoted Madam Memunatu as saying that she was contesting because she felt that as a woman she was capable of bringing development to her people and serving them better.

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.