Pauline Njoroge, a blogger and critic of the Kenya Kwanza administration, has spoken out for the first time about being arrested and detained in Malindi for two days for criticising the government.
In a lengthy tweet on Thursday, Pauline who was released on free bond on Monday, said orders to arrest her were issued on Wednesday last week.
The digital strategist said the orders came from Nairobi and immediately DCI sleuths started tracking her.
She recounted how a person claiming to be a banker reached her asking her to collect documents in Malindi.
Her friend, Jane Nduta, also received a call on Saturday from someone enquiring about tour services.
“On Friday evening, I had received a strange phone call. The caller had identified himself as a person working for a bank. This person claimed that he had some confidential documents that he wanted to give me in Malindi and asked me to go alone. This startled me because I had not posted anywhere that I was at the Coast. So how did he know? Anyway, I decided to ignore. Nduta also received a call on Saturday morning from a person who wanted to know whether she does tours in Mombasa. We discussed these things and decided to carry on with our day,” said Pauline.
Shortly after leaving their rented apartment, Pauline and her friends were stopped by a double-cabin vehicle and asked to proceed to Watamu Police Station.
“We left the hotel that afternoon to go see Gedi Ruins, Hells Kitchen and the first Church in Malindi, which was set up by the Portuguese. When we left the hotel we found a double cabin vehicle packed outside the resort. Nduta commented that the occupants had the demeanor of police officers but our driver Emmanuel told us they were probably just neighbours. We passed the vehicle and proceeded to join the tarmac road. We had hardly gone a kilometre before the very same vehicle blocked us on the road and asked us to follow them to Watamu Police Station.” She Tweeted on Thursday.
At the station, the cops took her mobile phone and then grilled her and Nduta in separate rooms. Their driver, Emanze Jilani, was still in the car.
Later, they returned to their rented apartment where a search was conducted. It is here, she narrated, that cops claimed to have discovered a roll of bhang behind the TV set and more in the vehicle.
“In my room, they found collagen and vitamin C supplements which were in the container I purchased them in. Those were what they labelled psychotropic substances. They finished the search in my room and we began to take inventory of the items they had taken, which now included my laptop. As we were doing this, one officer came carrying a roll of bangi and said that she had found it behind the TV. Nduta and the officer engaged in a back and forth. That was the first time in my life that I was seeing a roll of bangi. My friends can confirm that. In Nduta’s room they found her multi-vitamins, omega and collagen supplements. They also took her laptop, all her notebooks and all her reports and a novel she had carried. Her supplements were also labelled psychotropic substances.” She added.
The two were driven back to the police station, where the officers informed them that they wanted to search the car, which was still parked outside with the driver inside.
“Mind you the driver had been in the car throughout this episode so if we had something to hide, by this time he would already have done it. Interestingly, as soon as the officers started searching, 2 rolls of bangi appeared out of nowhere on one of the seats. At that point I told the officers that it was now clear the games they were playing in order to fix us, but since we were helpless in this situation we were going to leave the matter to God in heaven who judges the affairs of men. It was obvious that they were thinking through what to charge us with, and trying to make anything stick,” her update reads.
The three were then placed in cells, and the police wrote an OB indicating that Pauline and her friends were in possession of narcotics and psychotropic substances.
The OB statement was quickly circulated on social media.
“On Monday we were up by 5 a.m., ready to be presented to court that morning. But by midday we were still in the cell not knowing what was happening. Later on we learnt that those dealing with the matter in Watamu were still not sure what to charge us with or who would appear as the investigating officer, since this was really not their case. The orders were coming from Nairobi,” she explained.
Later in the afternoon, the three were presented before a court in Malindi but were released on a free bond after the prosecution failed to produce any evidence to charge them.
Pauline’s gadgets were, however, confiscated by the DCI for further forensic analysis.
“I still do not know what crime I had committed to warrant my detention. As we speak, my gadgets are with the Cyber Crime unit on Kiambu Road, because the powers that be are desperately still trying to get something to pin on me after their previous attempt failed terribly and exposed their evil scheme.” She added.
Pauline who is a fierce critic of President William Ruto insisted that she will not sit and watch Kenya go back to the dark days of dictatorship.
She also asserted that her detention only made her resolve to fight for the freedom of Kenyans stronger.
“I shall not be silenced! By detaining us, you only strengthened our resolve. We will not sit and watch as some fellows try to turn the clock back, recreating our country’s dark past. Patriots of that generation sacrificed sweat and blood to liberate our country from dictatorship, so that we may have the democratic space we currently enjoy,” she said.
“Because of our present circumstances, the responsibility to guard against jealousy and our hard-earned freedom has fallen upon our generation. We must bear that responsibility bravely.”
Pauline was charged with hate speech and cybercrime offences.
