- Kenyan businessman Gor Semelang’o is serving an indeterminate sentence in a Dubai jail over a stock dispute
- Lawyer Donald Kipkorir revealed a Kenyan woman initiated a legal case in a situation that seems to have gone wrong
- Kipkorir wants the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene and transfer the matter to the Kenyan authorities considering that the parties are Kenyans
Nairobi’s famous tycoon Gor Semelang’o is in custody in Dubai after being linked to a commercial contract dispute with an unnamed woman.
Source: Instagram
The businessman is believed to have been captured by authorities on October 9. He has been in prison for several weeks now.
Why was Gor Semelang’o jailed in Dubai?
On Friday, via X update, prominent lawyer Donald Kipkorir confirmed that Semelang’o was in prison.
Without much intervention, the lawyer revealed that the issue at hand was a dispute over shares.
“My close friend Gor Semelang’o is imprisoned in Dubai regarding the dispute between a Club Business shareholder and a Kenyan woman. In Dubai, commercial disputes which are usually civil are criminal,” he said.
The lawyer said that Kenya’s foreign mission has been taken up by the matter while it is expected to intervene.
Kipkorir is happy that the Secretary General of Foreign Affairs Korir Sing’oei will help address the issue by formally engaging the Emirati authorities to find an alternative solution.
According to the lawyer, it is impossible to have civil matters between two Kenyans dealt with by a foreign authority when the Kenyan legal system is in a good position to handle them.
“I have asked our Secretary General of Foreign Affairs Sing’oei Korir to use our diplomatic relations with the UAE to resolve the issue peacefully. It is not right for a Kenyan to use the Dubai Legal System against another Kenyan to resolve a dispute that is contractual. Gor Semelang’o is a good person with a big heart. He was the Chairman of the Youth Development Fund during the Presidency of Mwai Kibaki when the Fund was very effective. And Gor is one of the few Kenyans who do not have ethnicity. I am praying for my friend. And I hope that the Secretary General, who is my friend, will complete the matter quickly,” he said.
If Sing’oei handles the matter, it will be the third he handles involving Kenyans convicted in foreign jurisdictions.
Was Margaret Nduta killed?
In March this year, the Secretary General intervened to save a Kenyan who had been convicted of illegal drug trade in Vietnam.
Thirty-seven-year-old Margaret Nduta was facing the death penalty after being found guilty.
Source: Twitter
Sing’oei sent a Kenyan foreign delegation to Vietnam to discuss the woman’s sentence.
Since Kenya does not have an embassy in Hanoi, the ambassador in Thailand was given the responsibility to lead the delegation to represent the country.
Although the case had already been decided, Nairobi decided to follow diplomatic channels to deal with the situation.
The intervention eventually paid off as Nduta’s death sentence was commuted in July.
The death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
What happened to Stephen Munyakho?
After Nduta’s case came that of Stephen Munyakho, who was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia following the murder of his colleague.
A decision had been made to hang him last year, but the Kenyan government intervened.
Using its diplomatic presence in Jeddah, Nairobi entered into negotiations with the victim’s family through Saudi authorities, who proposed a financial settlement in lieu of amnesty.
Sing’oei was at the forefront of the conversation.
With the help of the Kenyan government, Munyakho was saved after KSh 129 million was paid as blood money to the bereaved family.
Munyakho returned to Kenya on July 29, ending his 14 years of uncertainty in a foreign country.
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