Editor's Review

Kangata defended 21-year-old Felesta Njoroge, stating she has the right to privacy and that the heads breached this by making public her financial information.


Murang'a Senator Irungu Kang'ata has called for the arrests of heads of the National Treasury, Central Bank of Kenya, and Assets Recovery Agency for reportedly exposing financial details of Felesta Njoroge. 

Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV, Kang'ata defended 21-year-old Felesta, a student at the Nairobi Technical Training Institute, stating she has the right to privacy and that the heads breached this by making public her financial information.

Njoroge hit the headlines after the Assets agency wrote an affidavit seeking to freeze her Ksh102million bank account on concerns that the money was proceeds of crime and money laundering. 

An undated Image of Felesta Nyamathira Njoroge and her Belgian Boyfriend. [Photo: Twitter]

"The heads of Treasury, CBK and The Assets Recovery Agency need to be arrested. Kenya is not a socialist or a communist country. The right to privacy when it comes to private money is something that needs to be upheld.

"The whole endeavour of the government to take that money from the girl is wrong, as long as she is not a public servant. If she were a public servant or a proxy to a public servant, I would support that. These requirements of disclosure need to be there but they should relate to public employees and their proxies," Kangata remarked.

In the affidavit, Njoroge had opened an account on August 2. The cash was wired in four transactions, the first being Ksh25,803,756 deposited on August 4, the following day Ksh25,803,756 was deposited, and on August 6, Ksh25,242,756 and Ksh25,579,356 were wired at different times.

"There are reasonable grounds to suspect the funds held in the account in the name of the respondent, are illicit funds in which the respondent is involved in a money-laundering scheme, designed to conceal and disguise the nature, source location and movement of the funds," the affidavit read in part.