Margaret Nduta/FILE
Kenya
has filed an appeal seeking to overturn a death sentence handed down to
Margaret Nduta by Vietnam for drug trafficking.
Nduta, 37, was caught with 2kgs of cocaine in July 2023 at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Hoi Chin Mihn City as she transited to Laos.
On March 6, 2025, she was sentenced to death by the People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City after being found guilty of the offence.
The 37-year-old, a resident of Kiharu, Murang'a county, was scheduled to be executed on Monday, March 17, 2025, but the authorities in Vietnam postponed her date with destiny following Kenya’s last-ditch intervention.
In an update on Friday, Foreign Affairs PS Korir Sing’oei said a Kenyan delegation working on the case managed to secure travel visas in Bankok and flew to Hoi Chin Mihn Prison in Vietnam, where Nduta is being held.
“We can confirm that while deeply distressed, Margaret is coping and has been treated humanely. Though Margaret was not represented by counsel during trial, an appeal filed a few days ago will be heard soon,” the PS said.
“In the meantime, we continue to engage our Vietnamese counterparts on other options towards resolving this difficult matter,” he added.
News of Nduta’s predicament in the Eastern Asia country was received with empathy amongst Kenyans, who piled pressure on the government to explore all possible diplomatic avenues to have her spared and repatriated to Kenya where she can serve her sentence.
The push was largely prompted by Nduta’s defence that she was set up a man she said duped her into transporting a suitcase to an unknown woman in Laos.
However, some believe that Nduta may have been coerced by the allure of quick cash and fallen victim to the snare of a drug trafficking network.
This is particularly after a Kenyan woman claimed recently that she once did time in the same correctional facility with Nduta in Ghana.
“Kenyans are strongly advised not to get tempted or lured into any form of drug or human trafficking. It is an extremely dangerous and costly misadventure,” Sing’Oei advised.
In a statement released on Sunday, the PS said he had a telephone conversation with Vietnam Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Hang, who assured him that Kenya’s plea for leniency was a matter under consideration.
“I conveyed to Madam Hang the anxiety of the Kenyan people on the impending execution of our national and reiterated our request for a stay of execution to allow our two countries to find a path to resolving the issue,'' Sing'Oei said.
''I am grateful for Madam Hang’s assurance that our petition is under consideration by her country’s authorities. In the meantime, our Mission in Bangkok is actively following up the case in situ.''
