Blogger who leaked exclusive DCI photos of Walter Menya
From her profile on Facebook, Pauline Njoroge tends to hang out with the Jubilee crowd and has in the past two weeks been travelling with the Mbele Iko Sawa group headed by Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria.
In one of the dominant photographs on her Facebook page, she is standing next to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
DINNER
The accompanying caption does not state where the picture was taken. It was, however, posted on June 24, 2016.
She also appears to have attended the dinner at Safari Park Hotel where supporters of the President were reported to have raised Sh1 billion for his campaign as she took a selfie with him.
Last Sunday, at 12.38 pm, Ms Njoroge broke the story of the “arrest” of senior Sunday Nation writer Walter Menya, who is still in police custody.
What caught the attention of many, and which seemed odd, was that Ms Njoroge had access to not only the information on Mr Menya’s arrest, but photographs taken at what appeared to be the headquarters of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Ms Njoroge is not a police officer, at least judging by what is on her Facebook page.
In her profile, she says she works for the Government of Kenya and is a former communication manager at The National Alliance party.
She says she is the founder and former director at the Eagles Leadership Foundation and a former programme assistant at the Martin Luther King Junior Africa Foundation.
With the maximum 5,000 friends Facebook allows and 62,251 followers, she certainly has a lot of people interested in her.
She does not disappoint them, keeping them informed about the Jubilee campaigns, with photos over the past week from Tharaka-Nithi, Chogoria, Kahawa West and Machakos with the Mbele Iko Sawa team.
On Monday evening, State House Director of Digital Communication Dennis Itumbi questioned the manner in which the “arrest” was carried out and the involvement of Ms Njoroge.
“My only question on the arrest of Journalist Walter Menya, is why was it necessary to leak photos of the arrest to bloggers? Why? It makes it look like a staged action. Many people are arrested and arraigned in court—their pictures from CID HQ in handcuffs do not go public...” he said.
“That alone trivialises the arrest and the accusation,” he added.
Mr Itumbi said that while the case would be decided on facts and evidence, “the perception is that it was a scripted narrative that must be pointed out.”
Mr Menya is supposed to be released by 5pm today after Senior Principal Magistrate Martha Mutuku on Monday allowed a police request to hold him for one more day to allow investigators to gather more evidence.