Online activist Rose Njeri says that detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had been monitoring her for a week before arresting her.
On Friday, May 30, the 35-year-old software developer was preparing to attend her graduation ceremony after completing a two-month course in branding and IT at Nairobi’s Baraza Media Lab.
Unknown to her, officers had been tracking her movements and knew exactly where she lived, including her house number. As she mingled with friends and took photos after the graduation, a strange woman in the crowd called her over.
“I approached her with suspicion and she asked me to step outside. I refused and she attempted to push me out.
There was a commotion and everything became blurry. The next thing I knew I was inside a Subaru flanked by two officers in the back, two more were in the front,” Ms Njeri recounted in an interview with the Nation.
At first, she did not understand why she had been taken.
Free at last: Activist Rose Njeri out on bond after long weekend behind bars
“They were aggressive and one of them began talking about the website and that’s when it clicked. They kept repeating that I was a bad person and that I deserved punishment,” Ms Njeri said.
“That is when it dawned on me that these were the same Subaru vehicles I had seen people talk about on social media.”
The officers drove her to her residence, searched her house and confiscated her phone, computer and laptop. Then, they drove her around for nearly four hours repeatedly questioning her about the website.
“At every stop, more officers joined and told me they knew the kind of person I was. It felt like psychological torture, ”she said.
Eventually, they took her to DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road and instructed her to write a statement about the website she had created.
Online activist Rose Njeri in court on June 3, 2025.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
The site was a platform inviting Kenyans to express their views on the Finance Bill 2025. She said she developed the platform after seeing a request on X for help to create a tool to send feedback to the Ministry of Finance.
“I wanted to put my skills to use. The site allows users to modify the subject and content or approve and send it directly to the Finance committee’s email. It’s a way for people to express agreement or disagreement with the Bill,” she explained, denying claims that she had built the site to spam government systems.
Ms Njeri expressed frustration over her four-night detention at Pangani Police Station and how she was separated from her children without warning. She also suffers from low iron anaemia and said police ignored her medical needs.
“I rely on a specific diet to manage my condition. My family brought me food with iron which helped and thankfully, they were allowed to deliver it,” she said.
Before her arrest, Ms Njeri was not a public activist. But the experience has changed her outlook.
“Now, I’m ready to hit the streets. My followers went from under 100 to nearly 9,000. I won’t back down," she says.
Despite the trauma, Ms Njeri says she is now more determined to speak up.
