diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 93a4d0f19..e6f5563ad 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -31,10 +31,8 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"crypto/md5"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
-	"io"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -133,9 +131,7 @@ func main() {
 
 	// hash the watched namespaces to allow for more than one operator deployment per namespace
 	// same watched namespaces will return the same hash so only one operator will be active
-	h := md5.New()
-	io.WriteString(h, namespaces)
-	leaderElectionID := fmt.Sprintf("%s-%x", "controller-leader-election-helper", h.Sum(nil))
+	leaderElectionID := fmt.Sprintf("%s-%x", "controller-leader-election-helper", util.GetMD5Hash(namespaces))
 	setupLog.Info("Using leader electrion id", "LeaderElectionID", leaderElectionID, "watched namespaces", namespaceList)
 
 	mgr, err := ctrl.NewManager(ctrl.GetConfigOrDie(), ctrl.Options{
diff --git a/pkg/util/util.go b/pkg/util/util.go
index 02b5cb1a6..a070aaa7c 100644
--- a/pkg/util/util.go
+++ b/pkg/util/util.go
@@ -18,9 +18,11 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"compress/gzip"
 	"context"
+	"crypto/md5"
 	"crypto/tls"
 	"crypto/x509"
 	"encoding/base64"
+	"encoding/hex"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
@@ -551,3 +553,9 @@ func RetryOnConflict(backoff wait.Backoff, fn func() error) error {
 func GetExternalPortForBroker(externalStartingPort, brokerId int32) int32 {
 	return externalStartingPort + brokerId
 }
+
+// Generage MD5 hash for a given string
+func GetMD5Hash(text string) string {
+	hash := md5.Sum([]byte(text))
+	return hex.EncodeToString(hash[:])
+}
diff --git a/pkg/util/util_test.go b/pkg/util/util_test.go
index 502ae9b5b..3fd64f9f4 100644
--- a/pkg/util/util_test.go
+++ b/pkg/util/util_test.go
@@ -690,3 +690,29 @@ cruise.control.metrics.reporter.kubernetes.mode=true`,
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestGetMD5Hash(t *testing.T) {
+	testCases := []struct {
+		testName string
+		input    string
+		expected string
+	}{
+		{
+			testName: "empty string",
+			input:    "",
+			expected: "d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e",
+		},
+		{
+			testName: "non-empty string",
+			input:    "test",
+			expected: "098f6bcd4621d373cade4e832627b4f6",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range testCases {
+		hash := GetMD5Hash(test.input)
+		if hash != test.expected {
+			t.Errorf("Expected: %s  Got: %s", test.expected, hash)
+		}
+	}
+}