Mother’s plea as daughter faces execution in Vietnam

Purity Wangui, a pained mother from Murang’a County is appealing for help to free her daughter from the hangman's noose in Vietnam.

Her daughter, Margaret Nduta, has been sentenced to death in the South East Asian nation for drug trafficking.

The family had until midnight on 12th March 2025 to appeal the conviction and despite the lapse, she's seeking any intervention that will free her daughter, Nduta.

Nduta, 37, was arrested in July 2023 while traveling to Laos and later convicted on March 6 for trafficking two kilos of cocaine.

The ruling has left her family in shock, struggling to understand how a woman they describe as God-fearing could have ended up in such a situation.

“I must see her before they hang her,” Wangui says, her voice filled with anguish. However, she faces a major hurdle—she has no means to travel the 8,100 kilometers to Vietnam. “I am waiting for some family members to volunteer to accompany me there. It does not matter how long it takes.”

Her distress is evident as she contemplates the unimaginable. “What is the distance from my womb to the world all this long I have been her mother?” she asks, emphasizing the deep bond she shares with her daughter.

Family Calls for Government Intervention

The family is now turning to the Kenyan government, hoping for diplomatic intervention.

Wangui is appealing to the president through her area MP, Ndindi Nyoro, to negotiate for her daughter’s return. “I urge the government to bring my daughter home so she can serve a sentence here,” she pleads.

A relative, Alex Murumba, echoes her concerns, urging Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi to intervene.

“We are devastated as a family. We are not sure that Nduta, who we know as a straightforward daughter, became a drug peddler,” he says.

Murumba adds that the situation is dire, as the family only learned of the sentencing on March 8, leaving them with just a few days to help her file an appeal.

“We have until March 12. The government should help us,” he insists.

Murang’a Senator Joe Nyutu has also weighed in, calling for urgent action. “The government should help Nduta appeal, win the case, and be reunited with her family,” he says.

Vietnam has some of the strictest drug laws in the world. Anyone found guilty of smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or cocaine, or more than 2.5 kilos of methamphetamines, faces the death penalty.

The country’s location within the Golden Triangle, a notorious drug-trafficking region has made it a key player in the global war on drugs.

Nduta has denied knowingly smuggling the drugs. In her defense, she told the court that she was hired by a man known only as John from Kenya to deliver a suitcase to a woman who was supposed to meet her at the airport.

In return, she was to receive a package to bring back home. She said she had been given Sh167,000 as an advance payment, and her flight expenses were fully covered.

She was cleared at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, as well as in Ethiopia and Qatar, but was arrested upon arrival in Ho Chi Minh City.

As the deadline approaches, Wangui remains hopeful, even as time runs out. “Maybe she was framed, or she got into bad company,” she says. But for now, all she wants is a chance to see her daughter one last time.