Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has pleaded with President William Ruto to intervene in the case of Margaret Nduta, who was sentenced to death by hanging in Vietnam after allegedly being caught ferrying drugs.

In an Instagram video, the outspoken lawmaker said, “I want to take this opportunity to ask and request President William Ruto to assist this lady called Margaret Nduta, who is supposed to be hanged in Vietnam. This lady committed no crime. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Nduta was handed a death sentence in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, after being found guilty of trafficking more than 2 kilograms of cocaine through the local airport while in transit to Laos in July 2023. According to reports, she could be executed today. This revelation has sparked an outcry among Kenyans, who have joined in pleading for intervention.

Other lawmakers have also weighed in, such as Gatundu North MP Njoroge Kururia who said, “My prayers and sympathies go to the family of Magret Nduta. I imagine how her parents and siblings are now traumatized. As a Kenyan who doesn’t have the ability to help Nduta in this situation, I only commit her to God, for his mercies.”

Kenyans also took to social media to sympathise with Nduta. One user, @jocelynnemathenge, wrote, “Aki, this story of Margaret jameni, Mungu asimame kati.”

Others, like @justicetich, held a different view, commenting, “I don’t see anything to be discussed here. Kama alipatikana na ukweli, why sympathize?”

However, Babu had an unconventional suggestion as well. “Even if it means exchanging one of the corrupt Cabinet Secretaries with her, let’s do whatever it takes to save Margaret’s life,” he said.

Vietnam’s extensive borders with Laos, Cambodia, and China make it a key transit route for drug trafficking. Despite this, it has some of the world’s strictest drug laws, including the death penalty for trafficking large quantities of narcotics, such as 100 grams or more of heroin or 5 kilograms or more of opium.