Kenya defends $13M US-backed Ebola unit after court halt

Kenya’s government said it will press ahead with a US-backed $13 million Ebola isolation unit at Laikipia Air Base despite a High Court suspension and protests that left two people dead, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale told national television.

The facility is one of 23 planned isolation centres across the country. Work on the roughly 50-bed unit was halted by the High Court on May 29 after activists filed a petition. Justice Patricia Nyaundi extended the suspension on June 2 and ordered the state to disclose every agreement, approval and protocol within seven days. The next hearing is scheduled for June 23.

Duale said the base commander and Kenya Defence Forces medical leadership will oversee the site in cooperation with US colleagues. He described the $13 million as preparedness funding for the wider response, put at about 1.7 billion Kenyan shillings. “We have no apology to make because we have partnered with the US in the health sector for over 23 years,” Duale said during a televised interview.

Equipment and US specialists continued to arrive at the air base after the court order. Organisers reported two protesters were shot dead during clashes in Nanyuki near the site. Duale accused what he called “paid up protesters” and urged local leaders to act responsibly. Doctors and civil society groups say the agreement lacked adequate consultation and that biosecurity trade-offs were not fully explained.

Officials described the centres as a precaution because of Kenya’s links to the outbreak area. Thousands of Kenyans live and work in the Democratic Republic of Congo and more than 450 Kenyan troops serve on a UN mission there, officials noted. Duale referenced Sections 35 and 36 of the Public Health Act as legal authority during an epidemic and cited World Health Organization guidance discouraging blanket border closures.

The WHO declared the Bundibugyo strain outbreak a public health emergency on May 17. That strain has no licensed vaccine. International partners have provided funding for the response; the United States has pledged more than $162 million. A US official stated the United States would not allow Ebola cases to enter the country, a change from 2014 when some infected Americans were repatriated to biocontainment units.

Kenya’s health ministry reported screening more than 72,000 travellers at 26 points of entry and detecting no domestic Ebola cases. Duale said the planned centres are part of national preparedness and acknowledged the government could have communicated details earlier.