No case for South Sudan 4 after presidential pardon

The four Kenyans who were freed from South Sudan made their first public appearance on Thursday after jetting back to the country on Wednesday.

Flanked by State House spokesperson Manoah Espisu and Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Monica Juma, the  four thanked the president for ensuring their safe return home and acknowledged the huge delegation from foreign affairs ministry.

“We want to thank President Uhuru Kenyatta for the effort he personally made to secure our release, I know its been a long time and we have been hearing he has really tried his best fulfilling his promise of bringing us back home and for that we are really grateful and thankful to the president,” Ravi Ramesh  said.

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 PS has however clarified that the four are not on prisoner exchange, asserting that they have been pardoned by President Salva Kir within the constitutes of South Sudan’s constitution urging Kenyans to observe due diligence when applying for work abroad.

“It is not a prisoner swap, they have undergone due process, there was a court process, there was a determination of a case, there was a judgement,” said the PS. “What we have negotiated is to have our boys released within the framework of the law, what they received is a pardon  by the president within the rule of law of South Sudan constitution.”

The four, Anthony Mwadime, Ravi Ramesh, Boniface Muriuki and Anthony Keya also congratulated the president and Deputy president on their re-election.