Foreign Ministry says Nduta’s Vietnam case ‘difficult’ as execution clock ticks

Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Ministry says Margaret Nduta Macharia's case, which has seen her sentenced to death in Vietnam for drug trafficking, is “complex and difficult” even as her family and several Kenyans call for a diplomatic intervention ahead of her execution on Monday.

Ms Macharia, 37, was convicted by the people's court in Ho Chi Minh City on March 6 after being found guilty of smuggling over two kilograms of cocaine.

Her family and a section of Kenyan legislators have urged Nairobi to negotiate a deal with Hanoi, which would see Nduta repatriated, even if to serve a sentence locally.

Among them is Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka, who, in a March 14 letter to President William Ruto, urges the head of state and Foreign Affairs Ministry officials to reach out to their Vietnamese counterparts and seek intervention.

Onyonka wants Kenya to plead for clemency on humanitarian grounds, seeking to have Macharia’s death sentence commuted to life imprisonment “or an alternative penalty” and facilitate her repatriation.

In response, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei on Sunday afternoon wrote on X: “Nduta’s case is complex and difficult, but we are doing everything within our disposal to secure reprieve for our national.”

In a subsequent post on the social media platform, Sing’oei said he had spoken to Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Hang and requested a stay of execution.

“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,” the PS 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.”

Kenya does not have a diplomatic mission (embassy or consulate) in Vietnam; Kenya's embassy in Thailand is accredited to Vietnam – hence Sing’oei’s statement that the matter was being handled by the Bangkok mission.

Meanwhile, Vietnam's embassy in Tanzania is accredited to Kenya.

And while relations between Nairobi and Hanoi remain cordial, the two states do not have bilateral agreements.

The last official engagement between the two countries was in 2020 when then-Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc hosted a reception for Kenya’s then-Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Monica Juma.

CS Juma also met with then Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Bình Minh in Hanoi in late 2019.

For now, Macharia is scheduled to have her final meal at 7:30 p.m. local time on Monday, ahead of her execution at 8:30 p.m., per Vietnamese authorities.

The Southeast Asian country is known for having some of the strictest drug laws in the world.

Anyone found guilty of smuggling or possessing over 600 grams of heroin or cocaine faces the death penalty.