Kenyans protest planned U.S.-backed Ebola centre as President Ruto defends facility  

Hundreds of Kenyans took to the streets of Nanyuki in central Kenya on Monday to protest a planned U.S.-backed Ebola quarantine facility at the Laikipia Air Base, as President William Ruto moved to defend the controversial project amid growing public opposition and a court-ordered suspension.

The demonstration erupted days after Kenya’s High Court temporarily halted plans to establish the quarantine centre, which is intended to accommodate United States nationals who may have been exposed to Ebola but are not showing symptoms.

The development comes as the ongoing Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and neighboring Uganda has claimed more than 220 lives, according to recent reports.

Kenya has not recorded any Ebola cases since the latest outbreak was declared.

What they are saying  

Public opposition to the project intensified after reports emerged that Kenya had approved a U.S. request to establish a quarantine centre for Americans potentially exposed to Ebola.

Footage from the protest showed demonstrators blowing whistles, blocking roads leading to the airbase and demanding the project be scrapped entirely. Protest organizers argued that locating the facility near a populated community could expose residents to unnecessary health risks.

Patrick Wahome, one of the protest organizers, said residents were concerned about the close interaction between military personnel and the local population.

• “Nanyuki is a very small town. The military personnel who serve the base … live with us. Our kids go to the same schools and that means if anyone is infected, we are all infected,” he said.
• “We are picketing for our lives.” 

Other protesters questioned why Kenya should host a quarantine facility for foreigners despite not being the epicentre of the outbreak.

More insights  

President Ruto, responding publicly for the first time to the backlash, insisted the facility forms part of Kenya’s broader disease preparedness strategy and longstanding health cooperation with the United States.

He argued that the centre would not be reserved exclusively for Americans and could also serve Kenyans and other partners if required.

• “The facility that is at Laikipia Air Base is not a facility different from all the other facilities that we have across Kenya,” Ruto told reporters.

According to the Kenyan president, the initiative was approved after a request from U.S. President Donald Trump and forms part of decades-long cooperation between the two countries on public health programmes involving HIV/AIDS, Ebola and COVID-19.

Ruto said Kenya has already established isolation, surveillance and treatment facilities in 23 counties and stressed that the proposed centre would serve both Kenyans and foreign nationals if necessary.

• “We are a responsible government. We know what we are doing,” he said, while urging citizens to trust the country’s preparedness measures.

The U.S. government has pledged approximately $13.5 million toward strengthening Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts, although limited details about the quarantine facility have been publicly disclosed.

Despite the project’s planned operational launch last Friday, Kenya’s High Court ordered a temporary suspension after a lawsuit argued that the facility could endanger public health and that the agreement lacked sufficient transparency and public participation.

What you should know 

The latest Ebola outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, which is currently spreading across parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

• The outbreak has emerged as one of Africa’s most pressing public health concerns after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, warning that the Bundibugyo strain currently has no approved vaccine or targeted treatment.
• On May 26, Nairametrics reported that African countries and international partners had secured approximately $498.8 million in pledges and commitments to strengthen response efforts in affected and high-risk countries as the Ebola-related death toll rose to 220.
• A day later, Uganda announced the closure of its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo as authorities intensified containment measures following a sharp increase in suspected infections linked to the outbreak in eastern Congo.

The United Nations has also stepped up its response. Tom Fletcher, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, announced that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had released up to $60 million from its emergency response fund to support efforts aimed at containing the spread of the virus across Central Africa.