Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has described the case of Margaret Nduta Macharia, a Kenyan woman sentenced to death in Vietnam for drug trafficking, as “complex and difficult” as the clock ticks towards her execution scheduled for Monday night.
Ms. Macharia, 37, was convicted on March 6 by the People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City after being found guilty of smuggling over two kilograms of cocaine. Under Vietnam’s stringent drug laws, possession or smuggling of over 600 grams of heroin or cocaine carries a mandatory death sentence.
Her family and several Kenyan legislators have been calling for urgent diplomatic intervention, urging the government to negotiate with Hanoi for clemency. Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka has been at the forefront, writing to President William Ruto on March 14, pleading for efforts to have her sentence commuted to life imprisonment or an alternative penalty.
“Kenya should plead for clemency on humanitarian grounds and, if possible, negotiate for her repatriation to serve her sentence locally,” Onyonka stated.
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei acknowledged the seriousness of the case, saying on Sunday via X (formerly Twitter): “Nduta’s case is complex and difficult, but we are doing everything within our disposal to secure reprieve for our national.”
The situation is further complicated by the fact that Kenya does not have a diplomatic mission in Vietnam. Kenya’s embassy in Thailand is accredited to Vietnam, while Vietnam’s embassy in Tanzania serves Kenyan affairs. The two nations have cordial relations but lack bilateral agreements that could ease negotiations in such legal matters.
The last high-level engagement between Nairobi and Hanoi was in 2020 when then-Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc met with Kenya’s then-Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma.
Macharia, who remains on death row, is scheduled to have her final meal at 7:30 p.m. local time on Monday before facing execution at 8:30 p.m. The Kenyan government, alongside her family, continues to appeal for mercy as time runs out.
