Detectives have arrested a Mombasa woman in connection with allegedly tracking and publicly sharing the movements of President William Ruto’s presidential jet on social media, in what the Directorate of Criminal Investigations(DCI) has described as a threat to national security.
The suspect, Halima Ngache, also known as Princess Halima, was apprehended following an intelligence-led operation conducted in the Kazandani area of Mombasa County. Investigations linked her to an X account that was allegedly being used to publish sensitive information relating to the movements of protected persons, with the protected person in question being none other than President Ruto himself.
Halima is currently in custody, undergoing processing ahead of her arraignment in court.
In a statement following the arrest, the DCI reminded Kenyans that while the Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression, that right comes with boundaries and must be exercised responsibly and within the confines of the law.
“The Directorate remains committed to safeguarding national security and urges the public to refrain from sharing information that may compromise the safety of protected persons or incite unrest,” the DCI said.
The arrest has, however, sparked a fierce debate among Kenyans online, many of whom have questioned why a citizen tracking the public movements of a president who is frequently out of the country on taxpayer-funded trips should be treated as a security threat.
Critics argue that the arrest is less about national security and more about silencing those who highlight just how much time Ruto spends globetrotting while Kenyans struggle at home.
For Halima Ngache, what began as posting flight information on X has ended with a pair of handcuffs in Mombasa.
