Rose Njeri, the Kenyan who was arrested for designing a link that allows citizens to air their views about Finance Bill 2025 has opened up after being set free.
Njeri who is a software developer was arrested on 30 May 2025 by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), who interrogated her before locking the mother of two at Pangani Police Station for four consecutive days.
“I can say what I went through is an experience no one would wish to endure; spending four nights in the cells was not easy — just a bare cold floor without a mattress or blanket,” she shared
She was picked up in South B while running errands and driven to the DCI headquarters at Mazingira Complex, along Kiambu Road.
After the stern-looking detectives were done with her, a decision was made to hold Njeri at Muthaiga Police Station, where it was discovered there was no single female prisoner in custody; she was then taken to Pangani Police Station.
“At that time, they had confiscated my phone, but I managed to convince them to allow me to call my mother to inform her of what had transpired,” she narrated, adding that it was her first time to find herself in such a situation.
She later learnt at Pangani Police Station that her ‘crime’, which she found amusing, was violating the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act.
According to her, she innocently created a website that invited Kenyans to share their views on the Finance Bill 2025 — a move that rattled the government, leading to her arrest and detention.
“I never imagined that creating a tool to help citizens understand the budget would land me in custody,” she said.
Njeri created a platform known as Civic Email, intended to help Kenyans understand the contents of the Finance Bill, 2025. With the help of legal experts, she produced simplified versions so that Kenyans could easily understand the Bill.
‘‘I had a feeling the Bill had some problematic clauses that Kenyans should point out,” explained Njeri.
When a user logs into the site, everything is simplified. At the bottom of the site, you simply add your name and can edit anything there.
“It does not automatically send, because that is what they (DCI) are trying to manipulate while claiming it is a spamming tool. It is user-generated because the user inserts their name and clicks to send, which then reaches the government,” she said.
