The Speaker of the National Assembly, Moses Wetang'ula, has directed the Defence, Intelligence, and Foreign Relations Committee to intervene in the case of a Kenyan woman facing a death sentence in Vietnam.
Responding to Murang'a County Woman Representative Sabina Chege's request, who called for government action on the case during a Parliament session on Friday, March 14, the speaker directed the Committee's Vice-Chair Bashir Abdullah to get in touch with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the case and table a report to parliament once it resumes.
"Bashir gets all the statements, gets in touch with the foreign affairs, because even if we are on recess, committees are still working; once you have any response, communicate with the questioner, and bring a response to the home on the first sitting day after recess, " he said.
Expressing the urgency of the matter, Chege said that the committee should take action and submit the measures the government is taking to intervene in the matter.
Chege has further urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get in touch with the victim's family and ensure that the victim is reunited with her family in Kenya.
Sabina further stressed the need for the government to educate Kenyans on how they can get in touch with the government once they find themselves in similar incidents.
"The committee should reach out to the Ministry immediately because this is a death sentence to a Kenyan and the deadline was, I think, yesterday, so I request that this is immediately passed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so that they can start handling the matter and especially reaching out to the family," she stated.
"The committee should also say whether there are any foreign policies to ensure that Kenyans going abroad, though the recruitment agencies are educated on the expectations and how they can be able to reach out to our embassies in case they need help," she added.
On Friday, March 7, reports from Vietnam, a country known for enforcing some of the world’s strictest drug laws, said that the Kenyan woman was found guilty of trafficking over 2kg of drugs.
The woman we chose to only identify as Nduta was apprehended at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, which serves Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s most populous city. Authorities discovered the drugs concealed in her suitcase during her immigration check.
Vietnamese authorities revealed that Nduta had been hired by a man in Kenya to transport a suitcase to Laos in July 2023. The suitcase was reportedly intended for delivery to a woman in Laos, after which Nduta was expected to return with unspecified ‘goods.’
For her role in the transaction, the Kenyan received a payment of $1,300 (approximately Ksh167,895 at current exchange rates) from her employer in Kenya.
During her court appearance, Nduta claimed she was unaware of the drugs when she received the suitcase.
Prosecutors countered this assertion, arguing it was an attempt to evade accountability for her actions, insisting that she must bear responsibility for the drug trafficking, and sentenced her to death.
Responding to the Watang'ula directive, Bashir confirmed that the committee will meet the first week after the parliament resumes.
"I'll get the statement and pass it on to the ministry so that we can get an answer way before we can even resume," he said.
