A thick fog of confusion shrouds the destiny of Stephen Munyakho, a Kenyan man teetering on the edge of a gruesome execution in Saudi Arabia. His family stands in open revolt against the Kenyan government’s bold claim that their loved one’s death sentence has been miraculously lifted, a claim that threatens to unravel into a web of uncertainty and betrayal.
In a twist that could plunge this saga into deeper chaos, the family has fired back, declaring they’ve heard nothing of the grand pronouncements from UDA Secretary-General Hassan Omar. Speaking at a lavish State Iftar dinner hosted by President Ruto at Nairobi’s State House, Omar proclaimed with a theatrical flourish that Munyakho would soon stride free onto Kenyan soil. The price? A staggering £1 million (Sh129.5 million), was supposedly paid by the Muslim World League to wash away the blood debt. “The Saudi ambassador and our man in Riyadh have given their word,” Omar thundered. “The money’s been handed over, and our brother will return, safe from the executioner’s blade!”
Yet, from the shadows, the family’s voice trembles with doubt. Joe Odindo, chair of the committee fighting to save Munyakho, issued a chilling statement: “We’ve seen the headlines, heard the whispers—that some mysterious benefactor has stumped up 2.9 million of the 3.5 million Saudi riyals demanded by the court. But until we see proof, it’s all smoke and mirrors. If it’s true, it’s a prayer answered for the legion of souls rallying behind the Save Stevo Campaign. If not…” His words hang like a guillotine.
Munyakho’s tale is one of blood and bureaucracy. Once a warehouse manager, this 50-year-old father found himself in a deadly scuffle on 9 April 2011. A row with colleague Abdul Halim Mujahid Makrad Saleh turned fatal, a stab to the thigh, a wound to the thumb, and Saleh staggered to hospital only to breathe his last. What began as a manslaughter conviction in October 2011 was soon eclipsed by a Shariah court’s ruthless decree in June 2014: murder. Death by beheading. Since then, Munyakho has languished as a “guest” in Saudi prisons, his life dangling by a thread.
Under the ancient laws of Sharia, his neck was destined for the butcher’s field, the sword poised to fall. But fate, or diplomacy, intervened. The execution, first slated for 13 May, was stalled when one of Saleh’s sons, a mere boy at the time, had to come of age to grant his consent. Years of haggling followed. In 2019, the Yemeni family agreed to spare him—for a king’s ransom of 10 million riyals (£2.1 million).
By November last year, that sum had been whittled down to 3.5 million riyals—a still-daunting £750,000.
Now, the government crows triumphantly of a deal struck, a life saved. But the family waits, hearts pounding, for the clang of prison gates to confirm it. Is Munyakho truly free, or is this another cruel mirage in a desert of despair? The clock ticks, the blade glints, and a nation hold its breath.
