As Kenya prepares to mark one year since the historic Gen Z-led protests that shook the nation’s political landscape, a chilling reminder of the state’s response to youthful dissent has surfaced once more.
Rose Njeri, a 24-year-old software developer from Nakuru, was arrested this past weekend under unclear circumstances after building a simple online tool that allowed Kenyans to send email objections to the controversial Finance Bill 2025. The tool, praised by digital rights groups and ordinary citizens alike, quickly gained traction on social media, especially among youth frustrated by what they see as a tone-deaf administration.
Now, Rose is being held in an undisclosed location. Her family has not been allowed access. Her friends say she was taken by men in plain clothes who offered no warrant, only mentioning “cyber incitement” as they bundled her into an unmarked car.
The reaction was immediate and fierce.
“This isn’t just about Rose. It’s about the erasure of an entire generation’s voice,” said Achieng Mburu, a digital rights advocate with iFreedoms Kenya. “We are watching the state turn civic innovation into a crime.”
Rose’s arrest comes just days after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen publicly called for legislation to criminalise what he termed as “fake abductions”—a move critics see as a direct response to last year’s wave of disappearances and detentions targeting protest organisers. At the time, government officials dismissed most abduction reports as fabricated or self-inflicted.
“Now they want to jail victims instead of answering for state violence,” said former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in a statement posted Monday morning. “What recourse remains for those who suffer when justice itself is punished?”
In the days following Rose’s disappearance, the hashtag #FreeRoseNjeri has trended at number one on Kenyan social media platforms. University students staged a peaceful sit-in at Jeevanjee Gardens. Lawyers and human rights defenders issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the government to either release Rose or produce her in court.
The timing could not be more symbolic—or volatile.
It was in June 2024 that thousands of Kenyan youth—most of them under 30—flooded Nairobi’s CBD and towns across the country, protesting opaque taxation, rising living costs, and systemic exclusion from political discourse. Dubbed the “Gen Z Uprising,” the protests were largely peaceful but met with violent suppression. At least 13 were reported dead. Dozens went missing. Investigations have since stalled.
Now, a year later, the same administration is once again walking a tightrope.
President William Ruto, while recently expressing sorrow over “missteps” during the Gen Z protests, has offered no concrete commitments to end what activists call a pattern of digital and physical repression. Critics accuse the government of “weaponizing apologies” while continuing with repressive tactics.
“This crocodile empathy doesn’t match the actions on the ground,” said constitutional lawyer Wambui Karanja. “You cannot apologise in the morning and arrest dissenters in the afternoon.”
For Rose Njeri’s supporters, the fight is not just about her—it’s about preserving the fragile space that still exists for young Kenyans to shape their own future.
As dusk fell on Sunday, candles flickered on the steps of the Supreme Court in a vigil held for Rose and other missing voices. A placard read: “They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.”
With the Finance Bill 2025 expected to be tabled in Parliament later this month, tensions are mounting—and so is resolve. A year after the Gen Z protests, Kenya’s youth are still demanding to be heard. This time, the question is not whether they will rise again—but whether the state will listen before it’s too late.
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