Emotional reunion as four Kenyans freed from South Sudan jet back

Emotions ran high at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as four Kenyans who had been jailed for life in South Sudan finally returned to the country.

The plane carrying Anthony Mwadime,  Ravi Ramesh, Boniface Muriuki and Anthony Keya arrived at JKIA from Juba on Wednesday afternoon with family and friends eagerly waiting for their loved ones.

The four were, however, sneaked out of the airport with journalists not getting an opportunity to meet them.

Nonetheless, their families were ecstatic that they had finally landed back home.

Sources indicate that the four Kenyans are set to be unveiled by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday.

The four, and 12 other South Sudanese nationals were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2015 for allegedly conspiring to defraud the South Sudanese presidency of Ksh1.5 billion.

The release of the four Kenyans was reportedly secured following talks between Presidents Uhuru Kenyata and Salva Kiir.

The four, who left Kenya in search for greener pastures, were employees of Click Technologies, a technology retailer that sold electronic equipment including cameras to the State that was owned by John Agou, a former security officer in South Sudan’s presidency, and his wife Anyeth Chat Bor.

The company would later be accused of swindling the Office of the President of South Sudan and other ministries out of billions by receiving payments for no deliveries made.

Mr. Agou and his employees were also accused of forging the presidential seal in an attempt to withdraw the funds from the Treasury of the young African nation.

Appearing in a High Court in Juba, the 16 were charged with offences related to financial misappropriation and given 72-year jail sentences with the court barring the filing of an appeal within 30 days, as the sentence has to be submitted to the Supreme Court for a procedural confirmation.

Families of the four Kenyans had been relentlessly lobbying the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to secure their release, with authorities citing lack of a prisoner exchange or extradition arrangement between Nairobi and Juba.