Stephen Bertrand Munyakho, a Kenyan imprisoned for 14 years in Saudi Arabia after fighting a colleague, has returned home and says he will marry his South African girlfriend who waited for him throughout. He avoided the death penalty after a campaign to raise blood money. His mother and others supported him during that time.
Stephen Bertrand Munyakho, 51, known as Abdulkareem in Saudi Arabia, was imprisoned in 2011 after a fight with a colleague that led to the death of a Yemeni man. He had worked there for 15 years prior. In June 2014, he was sentenced to death and awaited execution under Islamic law, but a campaign involving his family, the government, the Editors Guild, and Kenyans in Saudi raised Sh150 million in blood money.
SUPKEM chairman Hassan ole Naado stated that the Muslim World League contributed Sh129 million to save him. Munyakho returned to Kenya on July 29, greeted by his mother Dorothy Kweyu, a veteran journalist over 70, at JKIA airport.
Three women stood by him: his mother, grandmother (now deceased), and his girlfriend, a doctor in Johannesburg. “My mother, grandmother, and girlfriend did not abandon me. They gave me hope,” Munyakho said. About his girlfriend, he added: “She is a unique woman and has been with me for over 14 years without wavering.” She could not visit Kenya in July due to work commitments.
Munyakho has three children aged 32, 30, and 25 from a previous relationship. He compares his story to Nelson Mandela's, saying “Ours is half of Mandela's” since Winnie waited 27 years in prison.
His grandmother had promised to dance if he returned, but she passed away. Now, Munyakho looks forward to seeing his girlfriend again and taking their relationship to marriage.
