Margaret Nduta, a 32-year-old woman facing execution today in Vietnam under the charges of drug trafficking //photo courtesy
Embakasi East MP Babu Owino on Saturday 15, March 2025 publicly appealed to President William Ruto to try and intervene in the case of Margaret Nduta, a 37-year-old woman who is going to face execution by lethal injection in Vietnam tonight.
Margaret Nduta, a Kenyan woman from Kiharu in Murang’a County, was found with 2kg cocaine in July 2023 at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport. She was later convicted on March 6, for drug trafficking.
Reportedly, Margaret admitted that she was hired by a Kenyan man called ‘John’, who had already paid her KSHS 167,000 in advance for the job, and also footed all the bills associated with her travel to Laos.
In his statement yesterday, MP Babu Owino urged President Ruto to act swiftly and exercise his diplomatic influence to engage with the Vietnamese government to prevent the execution.
” This lady is innocent, she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. She was misused, abused, and used to traffic drugs.” Babu said
” Margaret should not be executed tomorrow. She is one of our own. She should be saved from the death penalty even if it means exchanging one of the Cabinet secretary who is corrupt in this government with this lady, let us do so, so that we can save her.” He added
Despite Babu’s plea and that of other Kenyans, it might be difficult for the government to intervene in this case because there is no treaty or bilateral agreement signed between Vietnam and Kenya that allows transfer of prisoners.
Additionally, Vietnam laws have no leniency for the type of crime that Nduta committed, something that completely strips Kenyan Government all the powers to intervene in the case.
Kenyans are also using social media platforms to advocate for the release of Nduta. X platform has the highest tags of Nduta release, followed by TikTok, where most Tiktokers tagged Kapseret Mp Oscar with the hashtag; #OscarSudi#SaveNduta# to help push for Government intervention in Nduta’s case.
” Oscar sudi hata anajua Vietnam ni wapi or execution by lethal injection ni nini? Nduta atakufa if people are expecting the likes of Oscar sudi to help.” One netizen wrote
According to Gatundu North MP, Njoroge Kururia, the Kenyan government has already reached out to the Vietnam government and is only waiting for the response. NTV also reported on the same, saying that Kenyan government has officially written to Vietnam, requesting a halt to the execution until an appeal is made.
As Margaret who was supposed to be executed at 8.00am (Vietnam time) today approaches her last ditch, her family has been struck by emotional turmoil as they call upon human right activists and diplomats to intervene in their daughter’s case.
Rosemary wambui, Margaret’s twin, revealed that their grandmother died when she heard that she will not see Nduta again. They also recalled their last conversation with her.
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