By:Lezen Barnaba
A team of representatives from Kenya’s embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, has traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam, in a final push to secure clemency for Margaret Nduta Macharia, a 37-year-old Kenyan woman sentenced to death for drug trafficking.
Nduta was scheduled for execution on March 17, having been convicted by a Vietnamese court for trafficking two kilograms of cocaine.
However, the Kenyan government has intensified diplomatic efforts to halt the execution.
According to Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei, Kenya’s envoys in Thailand were deployed to Vietnam to negotiate a stay of execution and explore legal alternatives.
“I conveyed to Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Hang the anxiety of the Kenyan people over the impending execution of our national and reiterated our request for a stay of execution,” Sing’Oei stated.
Sing’Oei also confirmed that Vietnam’s government is considering Kenya’s petition, though the case remains complex and difficult.
The intervention follows calls from Kenyan leaders, including Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka and Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, urging President William Ruto to intervene. Onyonka, in a March 14 letter, appealed for Nduta’s repatriation to face trial in Kenya instead.
“We ask the government to push for clemency and, if possible, repatriation so she can face justice at home,” Onyonka stated.
Nduta claims she was unaware she was carrying drugs and had been asked by a man identified as John to deliver a suitcase to a woman in Laos.
Before her arrest in Hanoi, she had transited through three airports undetected.
Her case has sparked public concern, with many urging the government to intensify its diplomatic push.
