On the evening of May 30, 2025, 35-year-old Kenyan software developer and civic technologist Rose Njeri Tunguru was arrested at her home in South B, Nairobi. Her offense? Allegedly developing an email automation tool that allowed Kenyans to easily send their objections to the controversial Finance Bill 2025 directly to the National Assembly’s Finance Committee.
The tool, originally hosted at civicemail.netlify.app and later moved to civic-email.vercel.app, was launched on May 19, 2025, and quickly gained traction across social media. It enabled thousands of citizens to email their dissent to financecommittee@parliament.go.ke, creating what investigators described as a disruption of the committee’s normal operations.
Arrested without a warrant, Rose was taken into custody by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), and her digital devices were seized. She spent four days in detention without being informed of the exact crime she had committed. She was eventually presented before the Milimani Law Courts on June 3, 2025, where she faced one charge under Section 16 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act No. 5 of 2018, relating to unauthorized interference with a computer system.
Rose did not enter a plea. Instead, her legal team raised a constitutional objection to the charge. Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo granted her a personal bond of KSh 100,000, with the next hearing set for June 20, 2025, when the court will rule on the objection.
In an interview with Citizen TV after her release, Rose recounted her experience: “They made me sleep in a cell for four nights, away from my kids. At first, I was anxious because I did not even know what crime I had committed.” Despite the ordeal, she affirmed her continued commitment to civic engagement, saying, “Now I’m going to be deliberate about it.”
The arrest sparked widespread public outrage, both online and offline. Prominent figures, including former Chief Justice David Maraga, Amnesty International Kenya, the Law Society of Kenya, and digital rights organizations, condemned the move. Many viewed it as an attempt to criminalize digital activism and silence civic participation at a critical moment in Kenya’s legislative process.
Legal Express Kenya continues to monitor the case as it raises urgent questions about digital rights, freedom of expression, and the criminalization of civic tech innovation.
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