KENYANS have expressed outrage over the detention of a software developer who created a tool to help people oppose the government’s annual finance bill because of fears that it will raise the cost of living.
Rose Njeri was detained at the weekend after police raided her home in the capital, Nairobi, and seized electronic devises, activists said.
Police and the government have not yet commented on the detention of the mother of two.
Mass protests broke out last year after the government proposed tax hikes, forcing President William Ruto to withdraw the 2024 finance bill.
The bill outlines the government’s spending priorities for the next financial year, and how it intends to raise income.
At least 50 people were killed and dozens were abducted in a security force crackdown to end the protests that broke out last year.
Law Society of Kenya (LSK) president Faith Odhiambo told the BBC Newsday radio programme that Ms Njeri’s detention was a “recurrence of dictatorship”.
Ms Odhiambo said that Ms Njeri – whom activists visited in prison – was “crestfallen” because with Monday being a public holiday, she had not yet been brought to court.
Attempts to get her released on bail had failed, she added.
“This has always been a government way of oppressing, intimidating and suppressing citizens because they know the courts don’t sit over the weekend – and now we have a public holiday,” Ms Odhiambo said.
Boniface Mwangi, one of the activists who had visited Ms Njeri in custody, said she told them that police had ransacked her house and taken her phone, laptop and hard drives.
“Imagine having to tell her children that she’s in jail for developing a website that eases public participation for Kenyans who want to submit their proposals on the 2025 budget,” he said on X.
Ms Njeri was detained after sharing a link to a site that flagged clauses in the bill that she said would lead to the cost of living escalating. It also allowed people to email parliament, calling for the bill to be withdrawn.
She also raised concern that a proposal to amend tax procedures, allowing the tax authority to access personal data without a court order, could undermine privacy rights.
