Rose Njeri's Arrest Is Not What We Envision As A Country - UDA Senator

The leader of the Majority in the Senate, Aaron Cheruiyot, has condemned the arrest of software developer and activist Rose Njeri after she developed a website to facilitate public participation in the proposed Finance Bill 2025.

Speaking on Monday, June 2, during an interview, Cheruiyot said the arrest of Njeri does not envision the kind of country Kenyans aspire to build.

The Kericho senator expressed concern over the arrest of the activist, saying he was troubled that she was apprehended for developing a website.

Senator Cheruiyot also noted that the website that Njeri developed was a brilliant idea.

“Rose Njeri's arrest is not what we envision as a country. The thing that troubled me more, though, is the reason why she's been arrested, or what is being reported as the reason for her arrest.

“I reflected on the motion that we moved in the Senate immediately after the Gen Z protest. One of the recommendations we made was that Parliament needs to come up with ways of receiving public feedback beyond traditional means. There has to be a proper way of feeding back into the system. What she had done was brilliant-unless there's something else that we're not seeing,” he stated.

Njeri was arrested on Friday afternoon in South B and was taken to Pangani Police Station, where she spent her weekend.

He arrest sparked outrage online with human rights activists demanding her release from detention.

Activist Boniface Mwangi on Sunday disclosed that Njeri was in high spirits after he visited her at Pangani Police Station.

“She is in high spirits; she misses her babies, and she has two kids. When the police arrested her, they went to her house, ransacked the house, and the police took away her hard drives and computer," he said.

Mwangi described the circumstances of Njeri’s arrest as excessive, questioning the need for such a heavy-handed police response.

"She's a small lady even in terms of her size, but when she was arrested, she was arrested by 15 police officers, and they told her they were investigating her for creating the website,” Mwangi added.