Drug charges against Pauline Njoroge dropped, to be prosecuted over social media post

Pauline was arrested with her friend Jane Mwangi and their driver Emanze Jilani. They were allegedly found in possession of narcotics drugs upon detectives searching their car and their hotel rooms.

But appearing before the Malindi Law Courts on Monday, the prosecution dropped the drug charges.

Njoroge is now accused of false publication contrary to Section 22 (1) (b) (d) of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act no. 5 of 2018 for a post she made on Twitter.

Police in an affidavit say Pauline has been posting and tweeting inflammatory and inciteful messages against state agencies on her social media accounts, leading to polarization of her followers locally, regionally and internationally.

She was accused of false publication contrary to Section 22 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act of 2018 for a post she made on Twitter regarding a police operation in Nyalenda, Kisumu County and to discredit the head of state. The defence lawyers argued that the intended charges against the accused persons especially were ridiculous and not anchored in law.

The prosecuting counsel led by Vivian Kambaga appearing before Chief Magistrate James Mwaniki also withdrew an application to have the three suspects denied bond.

The magistrate said that non of the prayers touched on the second and third accused persons saying that they be released indefinitely. Njoroge, Mwangi and Jilani were released on free bond. 

The case against Pauline Njoroge will be mentioned on Wednesday.