Kenya suspends US-backed Ebola quarantine facility after court contempt ruling
Justice Patricia Nyaundi Mande discharges minister without penalty but demands compliance as protests over secret project claim three lives
Kenyan Health Minister Aden Duale has ordered an immediate cessation of construction on a US-backed Ebola quarantine facility at the Laikipia Air Base in Nanyuki. The directive was issued during a court hearing on Tuesday, where Duale appeared after being held in contempt for ignoring previous judicial orders to suspend the project pending a substantive petition.
Duale assured Justice Patricia Nyaundi Mande that all construction, site preparation, and related activities at the facility had ceased. The tented centre, designed to hold approximately 50 isolation beds, was intended to treat US nationals who contracted the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). US medical staff were expected to manage the site, which is located roughly 200 kilometres from the capital, Nairobi.
The court discharged Duale without further punishment but issued a stern warning against future disobedience. The facility had sparked significant public backlash since its announcement in May, with rights groups arguing it was being constructed secretly and without public consultation. The unrest escalated into violent protests that resulted in three fatalities.
The decision comes amidst a severe Ebola outbreak in the DRC, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has described as having the highest number of confirmed cases in its first month of any Ebola outbreak in Africa. WHO official Abdirahman Mahamud stated that the response needs to expand to keep pace with the outbreak, which has now confirmed more than 1,000 cases and 267 deaths.
While Kenya has never recorded a case of Ebola, the proximity to the crisis in eastern DRC raised concerns about bringing patients onto Kenyan territory. The sole US citizen infected in the current outbreak, a medical missionary, was airlifted to Berlin, Germany, for treatment. Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration reported 25 confirmed cases and 14 deaths in war-torn displacement camps in eastern Congo.
