A dramatic twist, in the finest tradition of that Africa depicted a century ago by Ernest Hemingway, who wrote that ‘what is true at dawn is a lie at midday’: the emergency healthcare facility that the United States funded in Kenya to enable its citizens stationed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to spend their 21-day quarantine period before returning to the United States – and whose construction had been suspended by the court – is, in fact, operational. Indeed, as reported by Reuters, the first seven Americans – volunteers on a Protestant mission – have arrived, none of whom are infected.

The news marks an unexpected turn of events in a story that has dominated the headlines in Kenya for weeks. The facility, funded by the US government within the Laikipia airbase in Nanyuki, had in fact become the focus of a bitter political and legal controversy. The High Court had ordered its suspension pending a final ruling on the project’s legality, whilst Health Minister Aden Duale had stated that he had halted work after being found guilty of contempt of court for failing to comply with the previous order.
The reality, however, has turned out to be different.
According to the agency’s report, seven American citizens belonging to the Disaster Assistance Response Team of the evangelical humanitarian organisation Samaritan’s Purse, who were involved in operations to combat the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are already being housed at the facility. None of them are showing symptoms of the disease, but they will all have to undergo a 21-day period of isolation before being allowed to return to the United States, in accordance with the new regulations issued by Washington.
The new US policy, introduced following the worsening of the outbreak in the DRC, prohibits US citizens who have worked in areas affected by the virus from returning directly to the United States. Before setting foot on US soil, they must spend three weeks in a third country, under medical observation. Kenya was chosen as the location for this quarantine thanks to a 50-bed bio-secure facility built with US funding.
Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, confirmed the arrival of the first guests, stating that none of the volunteers are ill and that all are being monitored by doctors from the US Public Health Service. The US State Department also emphasised that the transfer took place solely as a precautionary measure and with the authorisation of the Kenyan authorities.
The incident, however, is set to reignite the debate in the country.
Many Kenyans continue to view the Laikipia centre as a transfer of health risks from the United States to Kenya. Protests organised in recent weeks in Nanyuki had drawn thousands of people and ended in violent clashes with the police, resulting in casualties. The judiciary had asked the government to make public the agreement signed with Washington and to suspend the centre’s operations until the conclusion of legal proceedings.
According to Reuters, however, work had never actually stopped in the weeks following the court order, despite the Ministry of Health having stated otherwise. Satellite images and the continued arrival of materials, equipment and specialist staff had shown that construction was continuing despite the halt ordered by the court. The arrival of the seven American volunteers now confirms that the centre is fully operational, at least in its initial phase.
It remains to be seen how the Kenyan government and the judiciary will react to what many observers interpret as a substantial disregard for the High Court’s decisions. This affair is likely to fuel further political tensions, whilst Kenya continues to insist that it has not recorded any cases of Ebola on its territory, despite maintaining a high level of alert at its borders with Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.