Margaret Nduta: He went to work but now faces execution

As the sun rises today in Vietnam, the fate of Margaret Nduta Macharia hangs in balance. Kenya, 37, sentenced to death for drug trafficking, has spent the last hours in uncertainty; Waiting for your execution or clinging to the little hope that diplomatic efforts will ensure a last minute post.

For days, leaders, family members and activists have fought a desperate battle to stop their execution, even urging President William Ruto to intervene directly.

The so -called diplomatic and emotional public appeals have developed as the regressive account for execution reaches its last hours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yt2Hgm0aig

Nduta, resident of Kiharu County, Murang’a, was sentenced to death in Vietnam after it was arrested in July 2023 at the airport of the city of Ho Chi Minh with more than two kilograms of cocaine hidden in a suitcase. She said she was not aware of drugs, having received the bag for her agent.

With the imminent execution, Kenya’s officials have been fighting to contact the Vietnamese authorities in the midst of intense public pleas and pressure.

READ: Kenya begs mercy as Margaret Nduta prepared for execution in Vietnam

The main secretary of Foreign Affairs, Korir Sing’oei, confirmed that Kenya had hired Vietnam in the case, asking for an execution stay.

“I had a telephone conversation this afternoon with my counterpart, he Nguyen Minh Hang, Vietnam’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs about Margaret Nduta’s issue. I transmitted to Madame hanging the anxiety of the people of Kenya in the imminent execution of our national and reiterated our request for an execution stay to allow our two countries to find a way to solve the problem. I am grateful for Madame Hang’s security that our petition is under consideration by the authorities of his country, “Sing’oei published in X.

He added that Kenya’s diplomatic mission in Bangkok, which supervises Vietnam, was actively following the case.

The main lawyer Charles Kanjama, however, argues that Kenia has no legal right to force repatriation. “The only way is diplomatic persuasion.”

“In diplomatic practice, it can submit a request for its national to be arrested in a foreign country to be tried in their country, but there is no international law that forces any country to repatriate a convicted criminal. Therefore, Kenya can only explore diplomatic channels purely, ”said Kanjama.

The city lawyer Mathews Okoth agrees with Kanjama. “Diplomatically, Kenya can submit an application to Vietnam for two reasons: that the person can obtain a fair audience back home and also for purely anchored reasons to maintain diplomatic relations between the two countries,” says Okoth.

Speaking to the standard, Nduta’s twin sister, Rosemary Wambui, broke while she narrated her terrible experience.

“Nduta left Kenya in 2023, hoping to ensure a work of domestic workers in the Middle East. Before traveling, he met with his agent at the TRM Shopping Center in Nairobi. He traveled by bus to Ethiopia, where he stayed about 10 days before his flight, ”said Wambui.

According to her, Nduta was informed that her suitcase was too small and old, which led her agent to buy a new bag.

“The last time I talked to her was when it landed in Qatar. He had a headache and advised him to take analgesics. That was the last conversation we had, ”said Wambui.

Fast advance until March 2025. Wambui was surprised to learn about a friend last Friday that her sister had been arrested in Vietnam by drug trafficking and had been sentenced to death.

“I discovered through social networks last Friday. A friend called me, crying, saying that I had seen my sister on social networks, ”he said.

Nduta’s mother, Purity Wangari, a single mother of four children, said the situation had affected her health.

“My daughter went abroad to look for work. Now, they condemn her to death. We are supplicating the government to intervene and bring it home, ”he said.

The news of the sentence of Nduta has shaken the small town of Kariko in Weithaga, Murang’a. Alex Kimani, a neighbor, said drug traffickers had manipulated Nduta.

“We know our girl. She grew up in the church. Someone must have taken advantage of his naivety, ”said Kimani.

Paul Mbugua, also a neighbor, said that the people had initially celebrated Nduta’s trip abroad, believing that he had assured a better future.

The Senator of Kisii, Richard Onyonka, in an open letter to President Ruto, urged him to seek clemency for Nduta.

“This distressing development demands urgent diplomatic intervention to safeguard their fundamental rights and explore the possibility of clemency and repatriation. Although he recognizes the sovereignty of the Vietnamese judicial system, the Kenyan government must intervene to ensure that the life of Mrs. Macharia is preserved and that an appropriate sentence is allowed to comply with in his country of origin under Kenya’s law, ”wrote the senator.

Read too: Kenya government. making an effort to save Margaret Nduta from the death sentence in Vietnam

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino also called for Ruto.

“We must not lose a president of Kenya, please call the Vietnam government and avoid Margaret Nduta of the execution,” he said.

Vietnam is known for its zero tolerance drugs, and executions are fast once a suspect is convicted. Anyone who meets more than 600 grams of heroin or cocaine faces a mandatory death sentence.

Vietnam executions are carried out by lethal injection, which replaced the shot equipment in 2011.

According to documents from the Vietnamese court, Nduta was arrested in July 2023 while traveling through the city of Ho Chi Minh on the road to Laos.

He said he had been hired by a man known as John in Kenya, who paid him $ 1,300 (approximately SH167,000) to deliver a suitcase. He also hoped to collect another package on his return trip.

Nduta cleared the security controls at Bale (Ethiopia) and Hamad International Airport (Qatar), but was arrested in Vietnam.

The authorities said their suitcase had been modified with a false background, where drugs were hidden.

Despite her insistence that she did not know drugs, Vietnamese prosecutors argued that she should take responsibility for crime.