Kenya Halts US Ebola Facility After Court Contempt Ruling; Minister Apologizes

Kenya's Health Minister Aden Duale ordered an immediate halt to construction of a US-backed Ebola quarantine facility on Tuesday, one day after a High Court judge found him in contempt for ignoring a May court order to stop the project. Appearing before the court, Duale apologized and stated he had "directed the immediate and complete cessation" of all construction, site preparation, and related activities at the Laikipia Air Base facility. The judge accepted his apology and discharged him with a stern warning, rejecting requests from lawyers representing the petitioners for a 15-month custodial sentence.

The 50-bed isolation facility, located at a military airbase approximately 140-200 kilometers north of Nairobi, was intended to quarantine US citizens suspected of exposure to Ebola during the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite a High Court order issued in May—following a petition by the Katiba Institute and the Law Society of Kenya arguing the facility posed "grave and imminent risks" to public health—construction continued throughout June. The government had claimed ongoing work was conducted solely by Kenya to protect its own citizens, but the judge ruled on Monday that this recharacterization did not constitute compliance with the court order.

Duale defended the facility's safety, stating that concerns about Ebola importation to surrounding communities were "scientifically unfounded" and emphasizing the site's location at a military airbase with strict access protocols and geographical distance from populated areas. The minister noted that the facility could also have been used for Kenyan soldiers serving in the DRC. Both the Kenyan and US governments have agreed to suspend their collaboration on the project following the court ruling.

The controversy has sparked significant public opposition. Three people died in separate protest incidents in Laikipia this month as police dispersed demonstrators, including a 17-year-old schoolboy shot in the head according to witnesses. Many Kenyans oppose bringing potential disease carriers into a country that has never recorded a confirmed Ebola case, with some critics viewing the arrangement as having colonial undertones.

The United States, under the Trump administration, had planned to redirect Americans exposed to Ebola abroad to this facility rather than flying them home. The US government has committed $13.5 million toward Kenya's Ebola preparedness efforts. The dispute occurs amid broader negotiations between the two countries on a health deal involving the exchange of Kenyan health data for billions of dollars in US aid.