They were told it was for everyone. They did not believe it. They marched, filed lawsuits, and threatened to strike. One town in central Kenya just said no to America’s Ebola escape plan.
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Hundreds of youths in Kenya’s central town of Nanyuki marched on Monday against the establishment of an Ebola quarantine centre at Laikipia Air Base. The facility was planned by the United States to house Americans exposed to the virus.
Footage obtained by Reuters showed a crowd of about 100 people on roads leading to the Laikipia airbase, blowing whistles, with some riding atop a pickup truck. Protesters set up burning barricades and clashed with police at the gates of the base. Anti-riot officers stood by as demonstrators held their ground.
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The protest came swiftly after details of the arrangement became public. US officials said on Thursday that the United States was planning to send Americans exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new facility in Kenya, instead of flying them home. The announcement caught many Kenyans off guard and set off immediate public anger.
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The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the facility would be at Laikipia Air Base and would be operational with 50 quarantine beds by Friday.
Trump administration officials had described the proposed facility as “state-of-the-art” and said it was designed to provide access to high-quality care for Americans who would need to quickly get out of the DRC and quarantine without the risks of a lengthy transfer.
The facility was to be managed by US medical staff at Laikipia Air Base, about 200 kilometres from the capital, Nairobi.
The US government said it intends to commit $13.5 million toward Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio announcing the pledge in a statement. The money was widely seen as a financial sweetener for the Kenyan government’s cooperation.
The proposed facility is linked to a worsening Ebola outbreak in Central Africa. At least 263 confirmed cases of the Bundibugyo virus, a rare strain of Ebola for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment, have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The outbreak has killed over 200 people in the DRC and neighbouring Uganda, sparking fears that the disease could spread beyond Central Africa.
Kenya has not recorded Ebola cases, but neighbouring Uganda has reported nine and closed its border with the DRC. That fact became central to the protest. Kenyans asked why their country, which has no outbreak, should bear the risk of hosting infected or exposed foreigners.
The anger on the streets was raw and direct. Resident Malin Ndegwa said Kenya should not be exposed to the virus by hosting foreigners when it is not the epicenter of the outbreak.
“Why are they not doing it in the DRC? Why are they not doing it in Uganda? And, why must they bring it here? So we are saying, categorically, no negotiations, no public participation, we want nothing. We want that facility taken out of our town, we want it taken out of Kenya,” he said.
Local elected leaders joined the chorus of opposition. Laikipia Governor Joshua Irungu told journalists he was opposed to the establishment of an Ebola quarantine centre. “This will expose our people to Ebola,” he said, adding that many locals work inside the air base and could be exposed.
The protests did not happen in isolation. Before demonstrators took to the streets, Kenya’s professional bodies had already moved to the courts.
The plan was criticised by Kenyan doctors and US officials working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was also swiftly challenged in court by the Katiba Institute, a civil society group focused on constitutional issues in Kenya.
The Law Society of Kenya and the Katiba Institute cited Kenya’s fragile health system as the reason why foreign Ebola patients should not be quarantined in the country.
The Kenyan doctors’ union issued a 48-hour strike alert in preparation should the government proceed with the deal, accusing authorities of putting public health at risk. The union said the US appeared unwilling to allow Ebola-exposed individuals onto its own soil and warned Kenya should not become a “dumping ground.”
Kenya’s High Court moved quickly. High Court Judge Patricia Nyaundi barred Kenya from establishing or operating any Ebola-related facility under agreements with the US or other foreign governments, and from admitting anyone exposed to or infected with the virus into the country until the legal challenge is resolved.
The court ordered the temporary suspension on Friday after a lawsuit was brought arguing that the site could endanger public health.
The lawsuit also argued that the agreement lacked transparency, and the court accepted the case. The case was scheduled to return to court on June 2.
Kenya’s Health Minister tried to reframe the controversy. Health Minister Aden Duale said on Sunday that the quarantine centre was for “everyone” and not exclusively for US nationals. His statement did little to calm public concern.
Despite the court order, Kenya’s government pushed ahead with plans to establish the facility at the military installation. That decision deepened public distrust and drew accusations that the government was defying both the judiciary and public opinion.
Two Nanyuki residents also reported seeing military aircraft flying towards the base over the weekend, though Reuters was unable to confirm if they were US aircraft.
The episode has raised hard questions about Kenya’s role in US health contingency planning and about the nature of agreements between the two governments.
Critics pointed out that Kenya sits over 1,500 miles from the DRC outbreak zone. They questioned the logic of flying potentially exposed Americans to a country with no Ebola cases, limited health infrastructure, and no approved treatment for the specific Bundibugyo strain driving the current outbreak.
The legal case, the protests, and the doctors’ strike threat all reflect one common concern: that Kenya’s government agreed to a plan without public debate, without transparency, and without weighing the risk to its own citizens.
The court hearing on June 2 is expected to determine whether the suspension holds, and whether the facility will ever open its 50 beds.
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