The Kenyan man who was miraculously saved from execution as a prisoner in Saudi Arabia and returned home after 14 years behind bars is in for a love story reminiscent of South African icon Nelson Mandela’s.
Stephen Bertrand Munyakho alias Abdulkareem, 51, says that when he was imprisoned after a 2011 altercation with a workmate that turned fatal, three women never gave up on him: his mother, his grandmother, and his South African fiancée, who he met while working in Saudi Arabia. Mr Munyakho had worked there for 15 years before he was jailed.
“The support I got from my mother, my grandmother and my fiancé made me go on. It gave me that hope to trudge on,” says Mr Munyakho.
Stephen Munyakho with his brother, Cyprian (left) during annual leave from his work station in Saudi Arabia, with their mother, Dorothy Kweyu.
Photo credit: Pool
Of the three, his grandmother has since died.
“She had promised to dance with the third leg (walking stick), upon my return,” Mr Munyakho says. “This was not to be.”
His mother, Dorothy Kweyu, is an established writer and editor, now in her 70s. She was present at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on July 29 when the aeroplane Mr Munyakho had boarded from the Middle East touched down.
It was a surreal moment because, since June 2014, when an execution sentence was handed to him, Mr Munyakho had been waking up every morning fearing it would be the day his name would be called for a date with an executioner. Now he was not just free but back home; a home he had not seen since 2009.
Among the many who were present at the JKIA that night was Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei. He had committed to Ms Kweyu that the 2024 Christmas was the last that she would celebrate while her firstborn son was in prison. As the beaming Mr Munyakho stepped out of the aircraft, the promise all but came true.
Mr Stephen Munyakho (centre) who had been on death row in Saudi Arabia after arriving back home at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on July 29, 2025.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
Then there is the third woman: his fiancée, Konna Lindiwe. In an interview with Nation 140 days after his return, Mr Munyakho said she is a medic living in Johannesburg.
“That one is just an exceptional woman. A woman who has stood by me for the past 14-plus years, undeterred,” he said.
“Lindiwe is a medic and it was peak work period. But we are looking forward to that great reunion,” he added, noting that their relationship faced a tough test but it “stood on a rock”.
Asked if marriage is on the cards, he replied: “That’s where I’m heading to.” If it wasn’t destined for a marriage, he reasoned, “she wouldn’t have waited for that long”.
It is a story that echoes that of South Africa’s founding president and freedom hero Nelson Mandela, who was in prison for 27 years as his wife, Winnie, waited on him and championed his cause.
“It is only that Winnie Mandela [waited for] 27 years. This is half of that,” said Mr Munyakho.
Prior to his imprisonment, Mr Munyakho was a father of three children now aged 32, 30 and 25.
“I got them way before I met my fiancée in Saudi Arabia,” he said.
That Mr Munyakho’s is one of the most dramatic stories in Kenya for 2025 is not in dispute. His family, with the support of the government and associations like the Editors Guild and Kenyans in Saudi Arabia, was facing an uphill task of raising Sh150 million “blood money” to save him. If that sum wasn’t raised, the family of the man who died in an altercation with Mr Munyakho wanted him executed as per Sharia laws.
Veteran journalist Dorothy Kweyu, mother of Stephen Munyakho, during an interview on March 31, 2025, at her home in Katani, Machakos County.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
It was a series of public appeals, press briefings and media appearances for Ms Kweyu and her backers as they sought assistance. Then suddenly, an announcement came that the Muslim World League had paid $1 million (Sh129 million) to save Mr Munyakho.
Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem) Chairman Hussein ole Naado made the announcement in March, a day after a mention of the matter at an Iftar dinner at State House on March 25.
“I take this opportunity to confirm that indeed, the Muslim World League, of which Supkem is a member, paid the said $1 million,” said Mr Naado.
“When Steve’s (Mr Munyakho’s) mother made a public appeal last year and indeed visited our offices, the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims took up the matter and started engaging a number of its partners in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. And since the Supkem National Chair, Hassan ole Naado sits in the supreme council of the Muslim World League, Steve’s case was made an important agenda item within the organisation, where it was observed that Steve never intended to kill the victim, given that he and the victim were, in fact, good friends save for the unfortunate fight that led to the victim’s death. In this regard, it was decided that Steve was deserving of the Muslim World League’s intervention, hence the authorisation to pay the $1 million compensation demanded by the victim’s family in order to save Steve from execution,” he added.
Stephen Abdikareem Munyakho, the 51-year-old Kenyan who has been on death row in Saudi Arabia for 14 years, is home; his family welcomed him at JKIA, Nairobi, on July 28, 2025.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation
By the time the intervention was happening, Mr Munyakho said, only a sixth of the Sh150 million had been raised through fundraising. He added that he could not thank the public enough for sparing a coin for a person they barely knew.
“People denied themselves. I even have a sister whose colleagues used to sacrifice their lunch once every week for that worthy cause. I can never thank them enough. Actually, all Kenyans in general, I can never thank them enough for the support they gave me, both spiritually and financially,” he said.
Ms Kweyu told the Nation that the news of the bailout came at one of the lowest moments in the funds drive to save Mr Munyakho, whom she fondly calls Stevo.
“Many have called it the miracle of the century, and to me, it is. As much as I never gave up on God to restore Stevo to me, it never occurred to me that it would be as dramatic as it happened. Remember that the announcement of his return came at the lowest moment of the fundraiser period. And then bang! The miracle happened,” said Ms Kweyu.
On the Wednesday, when she spoke with Nation , she said the day began with prayer and crying.
“I don’t know why, but this morning after my prayers, I was so overcome with emotion and just fell prostrate by my bedside, thanking God and weeping. Yes, weeping! For God’s restoration of my son to me, to his family, to his many, many prayer warriors,” she said.
Stephen Munyakho, also known as Abdulkareem, a Kenyan national who returned home on July 29, 2025, after spending 14 years on death row in Saudi Arabia, during an interview at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, on December 18, 2025.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation
“People were like, ‘It can be that fast?’” he said, noting that he has put his mother, who has nine children in all, through labour twice: the first at birth and the second during his prison stay.
“The second labour was, I think, the harsher one,” he said. “It was indefinite. And mum ... taught me a new definition of love.”
Ms Kweyu said she has been a subject of some ridicule from her children and her friends regarding her weight gain, with some giving her nicknames.
“I now need to manage my appetite, which had died when the spectre of execution hung over my son’s head. I thank God for restoring him to us,” said Ms Kweyu.
From the interview, it emerged that it had been an eventful 140 days for Mr Munyakho since his return. He had done a medical examination and had 11 therapy sessions with a psychologist.
The medical test showed that he had high levels of cholesterol in his body and that his blood pressure was at concerning levels. He attributed this to the fact that they did little activity in prison.
“It was all about sleeping, waking up, praying, eating. And if you had a chance, you would do some press-ups. But other than that, it’s just sitting and sitting and sitting,” he said.
He has since done what was recommended to reduce his cholesterol levels, and he says it took two months to get them to acceptable levels.
“The medical was initiated by my family. They felt that there was a need for me to have a proper check-up,” Mr Munyakho said.
Stephen Munyakho, also known as Abdulkareem, a Kenyan national who returned home on July 29, 2025, after spending 14 years on death row in Saudi Arabia, during an interview at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, on December 18, 2025.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation
Through the therapy, he said, his counsellor took him through getting his footing again.
“We had sessions including my siblings, mum, my children. I’m glad all went well,” he said.
Asked what income-generating activities he is planning to get into, he listed book-writing and farming. He is currently converting the entries he made in 12 diaries during his stay in prison into a book.
“I’m very glad that I was allowed to come with them. If not, I would not have a way of expressing myself fully,” he says. “Over the years, I was documenting each and every day.”
On the justification for doing a book, he said: “People should at least know and experience and learn from it because it is one of those rare experiences.”
In 2011, he converted to Islam.
“Conversion was by choice after going through the religious books that I found there. I found out that we were actually serving the same God,” said Mr Munyakho, adding that he found most answers to his questions in the Quran.
“Kenya is a country that is open to freedom of worship. So, I’ve never felt off. I’ve been embraced. My family accepted me the way I am,” he said, adding that there are Muslims in his family: “My maternal great-grandfather was Captain Abdalla. So, it is not anything new.”
Stephen Munyakho, also known as Abdulkareem, a Kenyan national who returned home on July 29, 2025, after spending 14 years on death row in Saudi Arabia, during an interview at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, on December 18, 2025.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation
Asked whether he agrees with the notion that he lost it all, that he returned to Kenya after failing to achieve his dream of raising money to support his studies at a university abroad, he refused to admit defeat, saying that all had happened for a reason.
“God had a purpose in sending me to that place. And maybe it will be an opening of who Stevo will be next,” he said, noting that in 1996, when he first ventured into Saudi Arabia, his basic salary was less than what he was earning from business in Kenya — but he went regardless.
“To me, I’ve never lost. And I’m positive that something good is coming,” said Mr Munyakho, who will be 52 in March.
Asked what changes he witnessed between the Kenya he left in 2009 and the Kenya of 2025, he said that beside the Nairobi Expressway and the standard gauge railway, nothing much has changed. In fact, he said, traffic jams have increased. However, he was in praise of the elimination of potholes on major roads.
“Having travelled to Western and to the Coast, at least I enjoyed both rides to and fro. The road was very smooth,” he said, admitting that he hardly ventures outdoors, so he still has a limited perspective of the Kenya of today.
As the world celebrates Christmas, Mr Munyakho’s family will mark it with the excitement of a prophecy come true. The words of Dr Sing’Oei still ring in their minds.
“Whether or not I reach Christmas (on Thursday), only God knows. But my mum and I would be very glad to enjoy Christmas together after so many years,” said Mr Munyakho.
