The family of 37-year-old Nduta Macharia, a Kenyan woman sentenced to death in Vietnam, is pleading for government intervention to help secure a lesser sentence for their kin. Nduta was convicted on Thursday, March 6, after being found guilty of possessing two kilograms of cocaine. She has only seven days to appeal against the ruling, heightening fears over her fate.
Her mother, Purity Wangari, is devastated by the news of her daughter’s impending execution. Sitting in her Weithaga home in Murang’a County, the 63-year-old woman is overwhelmed with grief, staring at her daughter’s photo as she fights back tears. For two years, Nduta has been incarcerated in Ho Chi Minh City, where she was arrested in July 2023 while allegedly on transit to Laos.
According to court documents, Nduta claimed she had been hired by a man identified only as John from Kenya to deliver a suitcase to a woman in Laos. She reportedly confessed to accepting a payment of $1,300 (Sh167,000) for the job, with John also covering her air tickets. However, upon her arrest, authorities found two kilograms of heroin in her possession, leading to the harsh sentencing under Vietnam’s stringent drug laws.
Residents of Weithaga have rallied behind Nduta’s family, urging the Kenyan government to intervene and negotiate for her return home, where she could face trial under Kenyan law. “We are not justifying what happened, but she deserves a fair chance to defend herself. We ask the government to step in before it’s too late,” a family member pleaded.
Kenya’s foreign affairs ministry is yet to issue a formal statement on the case, but pressure is mounting for diplomatic efforts to save Nduta’s life before time runs out.