By Abdimalik Hajir - Reporter
Kenya, 1 September 2026 - Media practitioners in Garissa County have been called upon to exercise professionalism and accuracy in their reporting ahead of the upcoming General Election.
In a meeting held at Imam Shafi Library in Garissa, religious leaders warned that irresponsible use of traditional and digital media platforms could fuel tensions and division amongst locals
Sheikh Hassan Abdi od Supreme council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) said media is a double edged sword that can be used either on the positive or negative.
He urged journalists to always focus on issues that are of benefit to the larger community and avoid anything that could fuel tensions and animosity amongst locals.
Quoting the Holy Quran, Sheikh Hassan noted its against the teaching of the Quran and Sunnah of prophet Mohammed Peace be upon him that lying and spreading propaganda adding whatever shared through the social media and the internet remains even when you are long gone.
“Media is a very important tool but you can either use it positively or negatively, it's better to always look at the good side and do stories that are beneficial to the community and offer solutions to issues,” he told journalists.
The Supkem representative noted that media Practitioners have a lot to engage in including issues on health, education, development, peace among others instead of focusing on hate speech and spreading propaganda.
Sheikh Feysal Mohamed Abdullahi had invited local journalists, bloggers, tick Tocker and local influencers in a meeting aimed at sensitizing the media fraternity against divisive issues during highly charged campaigns.
Sheikh Feysal emphasized responsible reporting for both trained journalists and local influencers, saying the majority of people both in town and rural areas rely on them for information, adding that its always good to verify anything before sharing.
More from Kenya
“When you get any information it is good to verify if the information is correct before releasing it to members of the public because sometimes whatever you shared to the public might injure someone’s reputation or malign a community,” he added.
The clerics urged journalists to give black outs to political leaders spewing hate speech, involving abusive language and propagating propaganda and lies during the campaigns.
The religious leaders raised concern for lack of empathy amongst political leaders noting that they have become inaccessible to people who elected them to positions of leadership.
They also urged the electorate to drop or not to elect women who don't follow teaching and Islamic values adding that those who don’t have proper Hijab should be rejected at the ballot.
They also called for local elders to give everyone a chance to vie and stop giving traditional politicians to vie for position of leadership.
Veteran journalist Hashim Kosar said while long serving journalists observe rules and regulations laid by the Media Council, locals’ influencers might lack such understanding adding that they should also be careful of what they are sharing with the public.
“Journalism is guided by Media council code of conduct and the laws but other influencers might not be aware of such existence. I would urge them to be aware of such laws of defamation that can have consequences,” he said.