Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei on Sunday held a phone conversation with his Vietnam counterpart over Margaret Nduta, a Kenyan facing execution in Vietnam.
The PS said Vietnam Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Hang assured him that Kenya’s petition is under consideration.
Sing’oei said Kenya had earlier requested a stay of execution to allow the two countries to find a way to resolve the issue.
“Had a telephone conversation this afternoon with my counterpart, Nguyen Minh Hang, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam over the matter of Margaret Nduta. 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 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.”
Sing’oei said that in the meantime, the Mission in Bankok is actively following up on the case in situ.
The government’s efforts mark the first official response to growing calls for diplomatic intervention following Nduta’s death sentence for drug trafficking.
“Nduta’s case is complex and difficult, but we are doing everything within our means to secure a reprieve for our national,” Sing’oei stated in a post on X on Sunday.
He was responding to an open letter from Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka, who had appealed to President William Ruto to intervene and save Nduta, who was reportedly only hours away from execution.
In his letter dated March 14, Onyonka urged Ruto to seek clemency and repatriation for Nduta. The 37-year-old Kenyan was sentenced to death in Vietnam on drug trafficking charges and was scheduled for execution on Sunday.
While recognising Vietnam’s judicial sovereignty, he urged President Ruto to engage the Vietnamese government, the United Nations, and international human rights organisations to secure a more lenient sentence or facilitate her transfer to Kenya.
“This distressing development calls for urgent diplomatic intervention to safeguard her fundamental rights and explore the possibility of clemency and repatriation,” Onyonka wrote.
