KMPDU demands govt transparency on proposed US Ebola quarantine facility in Kenya
The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has demanded transparency from the government regarding the establishment of an Ebola quarantine and treatment facility at Laikipia Air Base.
In a press release on Thursday, May 28, 2026, the KMPDU Secretary General, Dr Davji Bhimji Atellah, demanded answers on why Kenya was selected over neighbouring countries.
“As the vanguard of Kenya’s healthcare system, we are utterly disgusted by the government’s apparent willingness to trade national biosecurity and the lives of its citizens for foreign aid. We will not sit back and watch Kenya be treated as a containment colony for a lethal pathogen that we did not generate,” KMPDU stated.
KMPDU has questioned the logic of flying potentially exposed individuals into Kenya when the U.S. has stated it will not allow Ebola cases onto its own soil.
“We demand absolute transparency from Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on why Kenya has been selected as the designated dumping ground for exposed U.S. citizens while nations directly bordering the epicentre are bypassed,” KMPDU stated.
In a detailed explanation, KMPDU noted that “If the United States believes the 12-hour medevac flight back to Washington is too dangerous for its citizens, by what logic is it safe to fly infected or exposed individuals into Kenyan airspace and drop them in Laikipia?”
The Union has further demanded the immediate publication of the bilateral text and an explanation as to why Kenya is being structurally singled out to bear what he described as biosecurity risks of a foreign superpower.
Duale’s remarks
KMPDU’s demands came moments after the recent reports regarding U.S. citizens exposed to the Ebola virus being moved to Kenya for quarantine.
However, the Ministry of Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale maintained that any arrangements regarding international health cooperation will be guided by Kenya’s national laws and public health regulations.
“Any arrangements regarding international health cooperation will be guided by Kenya’s national laws, public health regulations, biosafety and biosecurity standards, and the overriding responsibility of the Government to safeguard the health and welfare of the people of Kenya,” Duale stated.
At the time, the Ministry of Health firmly stated that the protection of Kenyan citizens, frontline health workers and communities remains paramount.
US quarantine plan
According to a publication by The New York Times published on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, the Trump administration is planning to send U.S. citizens exposed to the Ebola virus to Kenya for monitoring and treatment, rather than bringing them back home.
The news outlet cited sources with knowledge of the plans, saying the approach would mark a shift from previous outbreaks in which exposed Americans, including health workers, were repatriated to be monitored or treated in specialised medical units in the United States.
The report said the administration earlier this month flew an American doctor who developed symptoms to Germany and transported six other Americans to Germany and the Czech Republic for monitoring.
The idea that President Donald Trump would send Americans with Ebola infection in DRC to Kenya and not take them back to their country is just total madness and it is baffling that President William Ruto would agree to a deal that brings the deadliest disease in the world to his own country so that Kenyans can die from Ebola to make Ruto and Trump happy.
How can the president of our country do something like that to Kenyans? You bring death to Kenyans on purpose through a deal with President Donald Trump?
President William Ruto should be told that he cannot turn Kenya into a public mortuary not just for Americans infected with Ebola in the DRC but also for Kenyans who will get the infection from those Americans.
President Yoweri Museveni just closed the border between Uganda and DRC because Ebola infections are already in there from DRC. And President William Ruto seriously wants to tell the US president that they badly need Ebola in Kenya. Excuse me. What kind of nonsense is that?
Uganda orders ‘immediate’ closure of border with Congo as rare Ebola cases surge
Ugandan authorities on Wednesday ordered the closure of the border with Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C.) “with immediate effect.” Suspected cases of a rare type of Ebola surged to close to 1,000 in D.R.C. as the number of people exposed to the virus in Uganda ticked up, according to health authorities.
The border closure, which goes against World Health Organization (WHO) guidance, underscored growing fears of contagion in this East African country that, like Democratic Republic of Congo, has experience responding to Ebola outbreaks but is this time faced with a type, Bundibugyo, with no approved medicines or vaccines.
A local Ebola task force led by Vice-President Jesca Alupo made the decision after a rise in Ugandan health workers exposed to the virus by Congolese patients who crossed the border before the outbreak was declared on May 15.
Travel across the D.R.C. border will be authorized only in emergency cases, including for the outbreak response, cargo or security reasons, Dr. Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, told journalists. Any people entering from D.R.C. under emergency circumstances will be taken into mandatory self-isolation for 21 days.
Tracing and isolating Ebola contacts is seen as key to stopping the spread of the disease, which usually manifests as hemorrhagic fever. The virus is spread through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids. Experts say health-care workers and family members caring for patients face the highest risk.
The number of suspected cases in eastern D.R.C. is nearing 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths. D.R.C.’s Health Ministry on Tuesday said 101 cases have been confirmed, and they are looking into over 3,000 possible contacts.
Petition filed to stop proposed Ebola quarantine facility in Kenya
Health workers wearing protective equipment disinfect the isolation area for Ebola patients at the General Referral Hospital of Mongbwalu in DRC, on May 23, 2026.
Katiba Institute has filed an urgent petition at the Milimani High Court seeking to block the government from establishing or permitting any Ebola quarantine, isolation or treatment facility linked to the United States of America or any foreign government on Kenyan soil.
The institution has named the Attorney-General of Kenya and the Cabinet Secretary for Health as respondents, with KELIN Kenya listed as an interested party.
Katiba Institute is asking the court to certify the matter as urgent and issue conservatory orders halting any plans to establish, operationalise or approve Ebola-related quarantine or treatment centres in Kenya pending hearing and determination of the case.
The institute is also seeking orders compelling the Ministry of Health to present within 24 hours a contingency plan detailing Kenya’s preparedness, surveillance, prevention and emergency response systems in the event of an Ebola outbreak.
Further, it wants the government ordered to publicly disclose any agreements, memoranda or negotiations relating to the proposed facility, including environmental, biosafety and public health assessments, approvals from Parliament or regulatory agencies, and protocols on handling and treatment of exposed persons.
In court papers supported by an affidavit sworn by Nora Mbagathi, the petitioner says credible media reports indicate Kenya and the United States are engaged in advanced discussions to establish a quarantine facility in Kenya for American citizens exposed to Ebola and other highly infectious diseases.
Through Lawyer Malidzo Nyawa, Katiba Institute argues that such an arrangement would effectively position Kenya as an offshore quarantine centre for foreign states and raises serious constitutional, sovereignty and public health concerns.
According to the petition, the process lacks transparency, public participation and Parliamentary oversight, and there is no indication that any environmental or health impact assessments have been carried out.
It is very important that both the KMPDU and Katiba Institute are asking President Ruto to hold public participation hearings on whether Kenya should take in US citizens infected with Ebola in DRC because if that public participation is held every Kenyan will tell President William Ruto to reject any deal to bring Ebola to Kenya.
Adongo Ogony is a Human Rights Activist and a Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada
