Murang'a Mother Pleads for Government Help as Daughter Faces Death Sentence in Vietnam

A family in Murang'a County is urgently seeking assistance from the Kenyan government to save their daughter, Margaret Nduta Macharia, 37, who faces a death sentence in Vietnam.

Macharia was convicted on March 6, 2025, after authorities at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport discovered two kilograms of drugs hidden in her luggage. She was subsequently found guilty of drug possession under Vietnamese law and given a seven-day window to appeal the verdict. Margaret's mother, Purity Wangari, tearfully pleads with the government to intervene, stating that her daughter had moved to Vietnam in July 2023 to take up a job.

"I received a call that Margaret was in court and had been sentenced to death," Wangari says, expressing that knowing her daughter was alive and serving a sentence in Kenya would bring her solace.

A relative emphasizes the urgency of the situation, noting the rapidly approaching deadline for Margaret's appeal, saying "We only have two days left. We are asking the government to speed up its intervention so that our daughter can be brought back home.”

They describe Margaret as hardworking and straightforward, questioning how she became involved in such a crime. In a separate case highlighting the challenges faced by Kenyans entangled in foreign legal systems, Dorothy Kweyu is seeking financial aid to secure the release of her son, Stephen Munyakho, who has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for 12 years.

Munyakho was convicted of murder after fatally stabbing a colleague in 2011, an incident he claims was an act of self-defense. The victim's family has agreed to a compensation of Sh 150 million in exchange for Munyakho's release. Kweyu stated she only learned of the incident three days after it occurred, when it was reported in the media.