From newsroom to Parliament: Ex-Al Jazeera journalist Adow clinches MP seat
Former Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Adow. Mr Adow has won the Wajir South parliamentary seat on ODM ticket.
Mr Mohamed Adow has been declared winner of the Wajir South parliamentary seat. Mr Adow is a renowned former Al Jazeera journalist who had run-ins with the authorities when he worked for the Doha-based media outlet.
In early January 2014, Mr Adow was expelled from South Sudan for reporting on the anti-government protesters’ advance on the capital Juba.
He produced a documentary that aired on Al Jazeera English on November 14, 2013, revealing a history of discrimination in Kenya since independence against ethnic Somalis in Northern Kenya.
The documentary came shortly after the Westgate attack in Nairobi.
Born and raised in Wajir County, Mr Adow said he witnessed first-hand the political and economic marginalisation of the region.
In another documentary that he made for Al Jazeera, “Not Yet Kenyan”, he returned to the region to see how its people had survived and started to prosper, only to find that Kenya's intervention in Somalia and the actions of Al-Shabaab were threatening to throw the region into turmoil again.
With over 15 years of experience in telling stories across Africa, Mr Adow filed exclusive reports for Al Jazeera about the Ogaden fighters who were battling to achieve an autonomous state in eastern Ethiopia.
“This election has been framed. It’s about ideas and long-lasting policies that will replenish the full potential of Wajir south in all its spheres. We are united on a common goal – a better and developed Wajir south,” he wrote on a social media platform.
He had urged residents of Wajir South to play their part by coming out to vote.
On Tuesday, voters indeed turned up and elected the journalist as their MP, giving him 13,990 votes.
His closest competitor, Mohamud Muhumed Sirat, received 7,545 votes.
“This evening I attended a football tournament in Habaswein town and realised the boys need someone to uplift them in showcasing their untapped talents,” Mr Adow (ODM) said in another post on social media.
“I pledged to them [that] as their MP, my office will have a cordial relationship with football Academies in Europe and other developed countries to nurture these young men.”
He pledged to base his political leadership on effective development, improving education and uplifting voters’ living standards.
Mr Adow was vying for the first time but he beat strong opponents, including the incumbent Mohamud Sheikh Mohammed, who received 4,293 votes.
Others were Dekow Noor Ali (53 votes), Khalif Abdi Ali (654), Mohamed Kahiye Bullet (1,274), Abdullahi Yussuf Noor (7,317) and Mohamud Muhumed Sirat (7,545).
Mr Adow started his media career as a Garissa correspondent for the Daily Nation in 1996. He later joined the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Nairobi and Ethiopia as a World Service Correspondent.
In 2006, he joined Qatar-based Al Jazeera as Africa correspondent before he was transferred to Doha as a world correspondent in Africa, the Middle East and Europe in 2017.
