Jubilee Party Deputy Organising Secretary Pauline Njoroge now says her voice shall not be silenced by the government.
She argues that while the freedom of expression is seemingly under threat she refuses to watch silently what she termed an attempt by the current regime to recreate the country’s dark past.
“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. 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 Njoroge stated.
Pauline Njoroge’s arrest
The digital strategist made the statement while narrating her ordeal at the hands of the police when she was arrested on Saturday, July 22, 2023.
According to Pauline Njoroge, an order to have her arrested had been issued on Wednesday, July 19 and the DCI immediately started tracking her before nabbing her on Saturday at around 2:00 pm.
She says before her arrest, she had received a strange phone call from a man claiming he was working for a bank and had some private documents for her.
The caller asked her to meet him in Malindi alone. Interestingly, her friend Jane Nduta -who was in the same resort received a similar call.
“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 it. 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,” she stated.
Later, as they prepared to tour around Malindi with their driver only identified as Emmanuel, they spotted a double cabin vehicle packed outside their resort.
On the way, the said vehicle blocked them and its occupants asked them to follow them to Watamu Police Station.
“I was however able to alert my advocate and a core group of friends that we had been picked up by the Police,” Pauline Njoroge noted.
Upon arrival at the station, her phone was confiscated but Nduta was allowed to keep hers before it was also taken away. They also took Emmanuel’s phone.
They would later be taken to separate rooms for interrogations but Nduta was asked to leave which she declined. They, therefore, waited for Pauline outside with the driver.
Later, the trio were taken back to their resort where a search was conducted in their respective rooms and Pauline Njoroge says that was her first time to see a roll of weed.
“After about two hours, the officers took us back to our hotel to search our rooms. 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,” she noted.
They also searched Nduta’s room and while searching the vehicle she says 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.”
They were later locked up with accusations of being in possession of narcotics and psychotropic substances.
“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 revealed.
The three were released on Monday, July 24, 2023, with no charges.
Pauline Njoroge says currently, her gadgets are with the Cyber Crime unit on Kiambu Road and she believes they “…are desperately still trying to get something to pin on her after their previous attempt failed terribly and exposed their evil scheme.”
