After keeping mum over plans to establish an Ebola isolation and laboratory facility at the Nanyuki Airbase, despite protests by Laikipia residents and a court order barring the controversial Kenya-US project, president William Ruto has finally addressed the matter.
In a Monday evening address shared by his communications team, the president defended hosting the US Ebola health facility in Kenya, saying it boosts global health security and pandemic response.
"We have deployed every arsenal that we have to make sure that we protect Kenya, that we deal with the challenge. We have made preparations for isolation units, for surveillance, for treatment."
President Ruto defends Ebola preparedness facility at Laikipia air base
However, earlier in the day during his address at the 63rd Madaraka Day celebrations in Wajir County, President Ruto steered clear of the Ebola facilities controversy, just hours after American media reported that specialists from the US had already landed in Laikipia.
The Nation has established that the government is going ahead with plans to establish the facility and that Americans set to run the facility have arrived at Laikipia Air Base on Saturday, and more are expected within the week.
President William Ruto delivers his speech during the Madaraka Day celebrations at Wajir Stadium on June 1, 2025.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation
Before going to press, President Ruto’s media relations team did not respond to queries on his silence on the Ebola subject.
On Tuesday, the High Court will preside over a petition filed by Katiba Institute which seeks to bar the US from sending, or Kenya from receiving, any Ebola patients from America.
Last week, the court issued orders temporarily stopping the US and Kenya from proceeding with implementation of an agreement for the setting up of the Ebola isolation and laboratory facilities in preparation for receiving patients from America.
Responding to the High Court order, Cabinet Secretary for Health Aden Duale said the government is cooperating.
"Now that we have a court order, the court has given us 48 hours to submit our submissions. The attorney-general, the chief legal advisor, has already submitted the submission," he said.
On Monday, lawyer Malidzo Nyawa for Katiba Institute said the organisation is waiting to read contents of the government’s response in court before taking any further action.
Cabinet Secretary for Health, Aden Duale addresses the media at Afya House in Nairobi on May 22, 2026 on Kenya’s preparedness and response measures following the Ebola outbreak threat.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
Mr Nyawa said, however, that if construction of the isolation and laboratory facilities has proceeded after the orders issued last week, then the government will have been in contempt of court.
“We are not sure what is happening on the ground. The court orders stopped everything to do with that facility, both construction and staffing. If it is true and government is proceeding with construction, then it is a violation of the court order. If you combine that and the (Health CS Aden) Duale statement where he admits for the first time that construction of the facility is happening, then it is a violation,” Mr Nyawa said.
“For now, we are waiting to first see their response. The court gave them 48 hours to file a response and that has since lapsed. We are yet to receive a response. But we are in court on Tuesday,” Mr Nyawa added.
Last Thursday, amid uproar over the Kenya-US project. President Ruto held a phone conversation with the Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, May 28.
They discussed the Ebola outbreak and coordination efforts. Mr Rubio announced a $13.5 million (Sh1.7 billion) commitment for the project during that call.
A demonstrator protests in Nanyuki, Laikipia County on June 1, 2026 against a reported US-backed plan to establish an Ebola quarantine facility at a Kenyan air force base.
Photo credit: Reuters
News of the construction of the isolation and laboratory facilities was first confirmed last week when American media house, the New York Times, reported that the US will ship any Ebola case detected to Kenya.
The US-Kenya Ebola deal has sparked outrage as doctors, lawyers, the civil society and Laikipia residents oppose hosting of foreign nationals infected with the Ebola virus.
LSK president Charles Kanjama on Friday said that “Kenya cannot become a holding ground for infectious diseases outsourced by foreign states seeking to shield their own territories from risk”.
Mr Kanjama added that the LSK has filed a case at the High Court seeking to stop the US-Kenya agreement.
Elected leaders in Laikipia County, who welcomed the High Court ruling, had asked in a joint statement before the decision: "Why Laikipia? What does the US government know about this that they are not accepting their own affected citizens into their soil but are ready to have them elsewhere?"
Nanyuki residents protest over US-Kenya deal to establish Ebola quarantine centre in Laikipia
The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union last Thursday threatened to go on strike if the government did not address the lack of transparency, risk of an outbreak and exclusion of Kenyan medical personnel in the Laikipia project.
In a statement on Saturday, the Trump administration acknowledged the court action and said it was engaging Kenyan authorities to address concerns raised over the project.
"We are aware of the court action filed in Kenya against the Ebola isolation facility. We are in touch with Kenyan authorities and are optimistic we can resolve objections," the US government said.
Nanyuki residents on Monday took to the streets, protesting the setting up of isolation facilities in the town.
On Friday, Health PS Ouma Oluga said, without expressly admitting truth to the reports, that the ministry is ready to handle an Ebola outbreak.
Health CS Aden Duale on Saturday denied that the Laikipia facility is exclusively an isolation centre for American citizens exposed to the Ebola virus.
Mr Duale said that it is a military facility for both Kenyan and US citizens, and that it is part of the country’s preparedness plan for infectious diseases.
The Health CS added that there already are facilities like the Kenyatta National Hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and the Kenya National Police Hospital which have specialised units and which can handle Ebola infection cases.
The US military constructed the facility at Laikipia Air Base. It was scheduled to begin full clinical operations on Friday, May 29. It was frozen at the final hour following a wave of public outrage and a successful constitutional challenge lodged by civic and medical groups.
Mr Aggrey Aluso, Executive Director of the Resilience Action Network Africa, said that despite Kenya accepting to host US nationals who are at risk of Ebola, Kenya's response to the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, the strain now tearing through eastern DRC and Uganda, is not yet matched to the scale and complexity of the threat.
A demonstrator jumps over a barricade of burning tyres during a protest against a US-backed Ebola quarantine plan to establish a 50-bed facility at a Kenyan air force base, to host Americans exposed to Ebola in Nanyuki town, Laikipia County on June 1, 2026.
Photo credit: Reuters
"Formal surveillance systems alone will not be enough," Aluso said. "The first line of defence must be communities themselves. Public awareness, rapid recognition of symptoms, and community alertness are what will determine whether Kenya stays ahead of the outbreak or reacts too late."
He adds, “People exposed to the virus may travel across communities and borders for days before symptoms become apparent. "In a region characterised by intense cross-border trade, transport, and migration, this makes transmission chains far more difficult to detect and interrupt."
In December 2024, Kenya amended her foreign policy and committed the country to becoming a "health emergencies medical hub."
In December 2025, President Ruto witnessed the signing of a $1.6 billion Kenya-US Health Cooperation Framework in Washington, which directly opened the door for the setting up of facilities such as the Laikipia one now at the centre of controversy.
