What we know about Rose Njeri’s arrest, the contentious Finance Bill rejection tool

Kenyan software developer Rose Njeri was arrested at her Nairobi apartment on Friday, May 30, after she shared a link to an online tool built to facilitate public objections to the 2025 Finance Bill.

Here is what we know so far about Njeri, her whereabouts, and the platform – dubbed Civic Email:

Njeri is a 35-year-old Nairobi-based IT developer-cum-digital activist. Civic Email is essentially an email-sending tool that lets a user select recipients from the National Assembly Clerk to the assembly’s Finance Committee.

Njeri first announced the tool on May 19 through her X account.

Initially, she hosted it on Netlify, a platform that lets developers build and deploy web applications and websites.

But in a few days, the site became inaccessible and visitors following the link got the error message: “Site not found. Looks like you followed a broken link or entered a URL that doesn’t exist.”

On May 26, Njeri then announced that she now hosted Civil Email on another similar developer platform known as Vercel.

With this year’s finance bill, the government has avoided introducing new taxes after the deadly anti-2024 Finance Bill protests last July.

However, Njeri flags clauses in the bill that she says will lead to a higher cost of living.

She also takes an issue with the proposal to amend tax procedures and allow the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to access personal data without a court order, arguing that it could undermine privacy rights.

Civil Email has a subject line and email body template which one can edit and append their name signature before sending.

“There are inadequate protections against potential overreach by the Kenya Revenue Authority, creating a risk of unauthorized access to citizens' private financial information,” reads the e-mail template.

“I call for the withdrawal of this bill as it is made in bad faith, ignorant to the current economic needs and political wills of the people of Kenya, will entrench the abuse of power by the revenue authorities, a dubious attempt to sneak in tyranny, reinforce poverty, promote marginalization and at the end of it will deny Kenyans the transformative agenda of Vision 2030. I thus pray that you reject it for the sake of a better Kenya,” it adds.

Njeri was arrested in Nairobi’s South B area on Friday afternoon and taken to Pangani police station.

Reports say police ransacked her house and took her phone, laptop, and hard drives.

Lawyers and activists condemned the arrest which they term as an effort to silence dissent.

They especially question the lack of clear reasons for her continued detention without bail, and the police’s failure to produce her before the court as soon as possible.

According to some who visited her in custody over the weekend, the mother of two is anaemic and has been downcast since the arrest.

Veteran lawyer John Khaminwa on Saturday said he spoke with the officer in charge of the police station to request bail for Njeri, “but he said his hands are tied.”

Former Chief Justice David Maraga condemned the arrest and detention, arguing it negates the spirit of Madaraka Day.

“Madaraka Day is about internal self-governance and the freedom to run our country... Rose Njeri is the latest to be abducted for allegedly innovating an accessible system for citizens to express their views on the Finance Bill 2025. This completely negates the spirit of Madaraka,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) through its President Faith Odhiambo has repeatedly expressed frustration over the difficulties lawyers have faced in providing Njeri with legal counsel.

Kenyans at large have been rallying for Njeri’s release on social media using the hashtag #FreeRoseNjeri.

Njeri could not be arraigned on Monday because it was a public holiday following Sunday’s Madaraka Day celebrations. As such, she was arraigned on Tuesday.

The software developer was charged with “unauthorised interference with a computer system” contrary to Section 16 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act.

Prosecutors argue Njeri's platform directed mass emails to the National Assembly Clerk's systems, “thereby interfering with their normal functioning.”

She was released on a Ksh.100,000 bond.

Njeri has previously created a browser extension capable of replacing President Ruto’s name as it appears on the internet with any of the plethora of nicknames Kenyans have given him.

Similarly, it is not the first time Kenyans have turned to digital tools for civic engagement; during the height of last year’s uproar against the 2024 Finance Bill where custom ChatGPT tools were trained to answer questions about the proposed laws.