By signing a biosecurity agreement with the US on July 24, 2015, Kenya opened her doors to the setting up of research and isolation facilities for diseases classified as biological threats.
That agreement gave the US control over projects that would be spawned from it, including selection of contractors and tax exemptions for imported goods and for American workers.
The deal also blocked either country from suing the other in the event of death, injury or property damage arising from projects under that agreement.
A decade after the National Assembly ratified it, the document and other agreements signed in 2025 now sit at the centre of a controversial move to set up Ebola-related research and isolation facilities on Kenyan soil.
Former United States Ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
The 2015 agreement was signed by former Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia and former US Ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec, before being ratified by the National Assembly on November 22, 2016.
On April 5, 2022 then Health CS Mutahi Kagwe and US Charge D'affaires Eric Kneedler signed a seven-year extension of the agreement. This means it lapses on April 5, 2029.
Then, in December, 2024 Kenya revised her Foreign Policy, particularly to “promote Kenya as a wellness, humanitarian and health emergencies medical hub”.
Section 4.9.4, of the Foreign Policy document titled Global Health Diplomacy became the foundation for the now controversial move to set up Ebola laboratories and isolation centres in Kenya.
The document defines global health diplomacy as "an emerging field in diplomacy that intersects public health, international relations, and development."
It focuses on "negotiating agreements and fostering international cooperation to tackle global health and development challenges", explicitly including pandemics such as Covid-19.
On December 4, 2025, Prime Cabinet Secretary Mudavadi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed the Kenya-US Health Cooperation Framework in Washington DC. President William Ruto was present as a witness.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Kenyan Foreign Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi sign the US-Kenya health pact as President William Ruto looks on.
Photo credit: PCS
By that 2025 deal, Kenya became the first country in the world to enter a government-to-government health agreement under the Trump administration's America First Global Health Strategy.
Under the agreement, the United States committed $1.6 billion to Kenya's health system over five years. Kenya pledged to increase its own domestic health spending by $850 million over the same period. The funds would flow directly to government institutions, bypassing NGOs entirely.
That series of agreements have now spawned a controversial move by the two countries to set up research and isolation facilities on the latter’s soil.
On Friday, Kenya’s High Court suspended that move to put up an Ebola quarantine facility by the Americans in Nanyuki, Laikipia County, following a petition by Katiba Institute.
In diplomatic language, a health emergencies medical hub is not just a country with good hospitals. It is a country whose territory can be relied upon by other nations during health crises. It means laboratories that test other countries' samples. It means health workers who deploy to outbreaks elsewhere. And it means, critically, that Kenya's soil can be used to manage health emergencies that originate beyond its borders.
When the Ebola outbreak occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the United States used that channel to make its request. Kenya, as the declared health emergencies hub and America's premier bilateral health partner on the continent, agreed.
Under the logic of both documents, Kenya had already said yes before the question was formally asked.
The foreign policy document further adopts a "whole-of-government approach," meaning any government department, including the Ministry of Health, can operationalise these commitments without requiring fresh parliamentary approval for every action taken under the existing policy.
When the Foreign Policy 2024 was launched, the government promised a public awareness campaign called "Foreign Affairs Mashinani" to ensure citizens across the country understood the document. It was to be translated into Kiswahili. It was to be tabled in Parliament as a sessional paper. That process is not complete.
“The facility is legal. The agreement is real. The policy is published. The problem is that none of it was explained in a language, or at a time, or in a forum that allowed ordinary Kenyans to decide whether this is the kind of country they want to be,” a US administrator said.
“That decision was made for them. It is on page 49 of a document released in December 2024. The Americans read it. Kenya is only finding out now what it said,” he added.
Meanwhile, Laikipia County elected leaders have celebrated a Friday court ruling that put brakes on proposed establishment of an Ebola quarantine centre in the area for Americans.
The court through prayers presented by Katiba institute halted the move until the case is fully litigated.
Laikipia East MP Mr Mwangi Kiunjuri, his West counterpart Mr Wachira Karani, North's Ms Sarah Korere and Woman Rep Jane Kagiri said they are opposed to the project.
Laikipia East MP Mwangi Kiunjuri during the interview with the Nation at his office in Nairobi.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
"In our view, and as the representatives of the great people of Laikipia County, we see no logic in Kenya and Laikipia County hosting such a facility," they said in a statement.
Laikipia Governor Joshua Irungu said the county’s residents and leadership will do all they can to ensure no Ebola quarantine facility is established in the area.
The Law Society of Kenya has called on the government to decline the request. The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union has threatened a nationwide strike if the terms are not made public within 48 hours.
Former Chief Justice David Maraga has called for parliamentary oversight. These are legitimate voices raising legitimate concerns. But none of them has yet demonstrated that a specific law has been broken.
President William Ruto with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Photo credit: PCS
“We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States." That is not global health diplomacy. That is national self-interest. What global health diplomacy does, in this instance, is provide the legal and policy architecture to transfer that risk from American soil to Kenyan soil,” Rubio said earlier this week.
“Kenya gets billions. Kenya gets the infrastructure that will remain after the Americans leave. Kenya gets the label of regional health leader. In exchange, Kenya absorbs the biosecurity risk that the United States has decided it will not accept for itself. Kenya is a sovereign republic, not a geopolitical isolation ward. We will not sit back and watch Kenya be treated as a containment colony for a lethal pathogen that we did not generate,” said Dr Davji Atellah, secretary-general of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union.
The facility at Laikipia will be staffed entirely by American public health officers. No Kenyan health worker will be involved in treating American patients.
Based on the 2015 agreement whose lifespan was extended to 2029, those American staffers will be exempt from tax.
