World Health Organization’s (WHO) workers mobilise 4.7 tonnes of essential medical supplies and emergency kits to support the affected regions in response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, Kenya May 18, 2026. World Health Organization/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Kenya’s doctors were the first to sound the alarm. Then rights lawyers rushed to court. By Friday, a judge had pulled the brakes on the whole thing — and a secretive American plan to quarantine Ebola-exposed nationals on Kenyan soil had become one of the most explosive diplomatic flash points the East African nation has faced in years.
The White House had confirmed it was establishing what it called a “state-of-the-art facility” in Kenya to receive Americans exposed to Ebola — built, staffed, and run entirely by Americans, with no Kenyan public health officers involved. The centre was set to have 50 isolation beds and be managed by U.S. medical staff at Laikipia Air Base, about 124 miles north of Nairobi, built near existing British military installations in the county. Senior U.S. officials said it would become operational on Friday, serving Americans who had been exposed to the virus but remained asymptomatic. The planned facility was to be staffed by members of the U.S. Public Health Service, a uniformed branch of the Department of Health and Human Services. More than 30 officers trained in Washington for three days and left for Kenya on Wednesday night.
The rationale was straightforward enough by Washington’s telling. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has said it “cannot and will not allow” any cases of Ebola to enter the country, unlike during the 2014 to 2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, when several infected U.S. nationals were treated on American soil. The administration has argued the plan will allow patients to more quickly access care and will protect Americans at home. If someone develops symptoms or tests positive, they would be evacuated to other facilities, with the CDC and State Department working to determine where in Europe those facilities would be located.
Kenya’s medical community was having none of it. “We will not sit back and watch Kenya be treated as a containment colony for a lethal pathogen that we did not generate,” said the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union Secretary-General Davji Bhimji Atellah. “If it is too dangerous for America, it is too dangerous for Kenya,” he added, as the union threatened to initiate industrial action unless the full terms of the agreement with Washington were released within 48 hours. The union accused authorities of putting public health at risk and warned that Kenya should not become a “dumping ground.”
The Katiba Institute, a constitutional law advocacy group, went further, filing an urgent petition at the Milimani High Court challenging the arrangement on multiple grounds. The group said in its lawsuit that the quarantine plan “raises grave constitutional concerns regarding the rights to life, health, fair administrative action, public participation, and parliamentary oversight.” Court papers filed by the institute argued that the planned complex “is being undertaken in a manner that is not transparent and is devoid of constitutional accountability,” without oversight or full disclosure of its implications for health or security. It also raised concerns over Kenya’s laboratory capacity to handle the Ebola virus, noting that the country does not have a Biosafety Level 4 facility — the highest classification required for managing highly infectious diseases such as Ebola.
High Court Judge Patricia Nyaundi responded swiftly, barring the government from admitting anyone exposed to or infected by Ebola under the planned agreement until the legal challenge was resolved. “Public interest favours granting interim orders,” she ruled, certifying the case as urgent. The next hearing will take place on June 2.
The court orders came hours after Washington publicly confirmed high-level discussions between President William Ruto and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Ebola preparedness, funding and coordination. Rubio said Washington intended to commit $13.5 million toward Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts, though he did not publicly confirm details of the proposed quarantine arrangement. Kenya had been pushing for the facility to be open to all nationalities, not just U.S. citizens, though it remained unclear whether that demand would be met. Kenya had provided written approval for the United States to open the facility, with the authorisation granting the U.S. access to land at the Laikipia air force base.
The standoff unfolds against the backdrop of a rapidly worsening outbreak. Since it was confirmed in mid-May, the Ebola crisis centred on eastern Democratic Republic of Congo — where widespread armed conflict has hampered containment efforts — has produced more than 1,000 suspected and confirmed cases and at least 246 deaths, according to the World Health Organisation. Health experts have warned that the true toll is likely far higher, owing to late detection and the difficulty of tracing contacts in active conflict zones. Last week, a U.S. citizen who was treating patients in the DRC as a medical missionary was confirmed to have contracted Ebola and was moved to Germany for treatment along with five others who were exposed. A seventh person was taken to the Czech Republic.
Some U.S. health experts have also criticised the Kenya plan, arguing it could discourage Americans from volunteering in the Ebola response. Kenya, for its part, has been testing arrivals and has yet to report any cases of Ebola on its own territory. Whether that distinction will be enough to hold once the courtroom arguments begin on June 2 remains to be seen.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah