Residents of Nanyuki, a town in central Kenya near Laikipia Air Base, have reacted with anger and fear to a US proposal to establish an Ebola quarantine facility there. The plan — reportedly to house up to 50 beds and staffed by about 30 US medical personnel — has prompted protests, accusations of double standards and a temporary court block.
The site at Laikipia Air Base, about 120 miles from Nairobi, was singled out as a place where Americans exposed to the current Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak might be isolated. Locals say the proposal risks exposing Kenyans to the virus and treats the country as a containment zone. “Everybody should be quarantined in their home country. We shouldn’t allow foreigners to bring us diseases,” said Charles Mathenge, a taxi driver who lives near the base. “Kenya is our country, and we should be careful with it.”
Souvenir seller David Mulinge voiced similar outrage: “What’s shocking is that the Americans don’t want their infected fellow citizens to step into their own country but to come to Kenya. That’s like treating us as lesser beings.” Street food vendor Fauzia Isiche worried about the economic and social fallout if Ebola reached the area, warning of Covid-style lockdowns that would put her livelihood at risk.
Concerns extend beyond livelihoods. The airbase hosts a primary and secondary school, and many residents fear an outbreak could affect children and students. “My grandchildren [are] there daily,” Mathenge said. Business owner Purity Kendi said she felt betrayed by the government and urged nationwide opposition: “We don’t have another country to run to.”
The US has in the past repatriated citizens affected by Ebola outbreaks. US officials have said they must prevent Ebola from entering the United States: on 28 May, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said, “We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States.” Jeremy Lewin, the US Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance, Humanitarian Affairs, and Religious Freedom, said the US was in contact with Kenyan authorities and hoped to resolve the matter.
Kenyan leaders gave mixed messages. President William Ruto defended the plan as part of national health preparedness, saying the measures were meant to safeguard public health and strengthen response capacity. But the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union, through Dr Davji Atellah, condemned the proposal, saying the union would not “sit back and watch Kenya be treated as a containment colony” and adding, “If it is too dangerous for America, it is too dangerous for Kenya.”
After a petition by the nonprofit Katiba Institute, the Nairobi high court last week temporarily blocked the establishment of the facility and the admission into Kenya of people exposed to Ebola. High court judge Patricia Nyaundi also ordered the government to disclose all agreements related to the facility within seven days; the next hearing is scheduled for 23 June.
The controversy comes against the backdrop of a Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in neighboring countries. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. The outbreak was declared on 15 May, though the virus is thought to have circulated undetected for weeks before that. The WHO reported 60 deaths and 344 confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and one death and nine confirmed cases in Uganda; there are no known cases in Kenya.
Local tensions have escalated: two people were killed during a protest in Nanyuki on Monday, and conversations about the US plan are pervasive across shops, markets and homes. Motorcycle taxi rider Simon Ong’ono questioned why the US, which has more advanced healthcare infrastructure, would bring exposed Americans to the town: “President Ruto should completely abandon this plan and close our borders to patients from other countries,” he said.
The proposed facility’s fate remains tied to the court case and ongoing talks between US and Kenyan officials. For many Nanyuki residents, however, the immediate worry is protecting their families, livelihoods and community from a virus that currently lacks a vaccine or approved treatment.
