Ebola-infected Americans are going to be quarantined in a facility in Nanyuki, Kenya. The Kenya government made this information public, and it elicited negative emotions. With the government not responding to people’s dissatisfaction, Kenyans went to the streets of Nanyuki to protest.
Allegedly, police shot two people in the Nanyuki protests that took place at the start of this month. The two were caught up in the melee caused when the public protested the entry of Ebola-infected Americans.
Kenyans are saddened by the violence meted out to the protestors. Apparently, the police lobbed tear gas at the protesting crowds and shot at them. This triggered chaos marked by running battles between the protesting crowds and the police.
The BBC confirmed that a hospital in Nanyuki admitted two people suffering from gunshot wounds. Apparently, one had been shot on the shoulder, and the other on the chest.
Protesting the Center for the Ebola-infected Americans
Monday, 1st this week, Kenya was meant to celebrate Madaraka Day. Instead, anti-Ebola protests captured the day’s attention in much of the country.
Kenya celebrates “Madaraka”, meaning “independence”, every year on 1st June. The country marks the date when, in 1963, Kenya took up self-rule. This meant that Britain, Kenya’s colonial power, no longer had any claim over Kenya; administrative or otherwise.
Paradoxically, this Monday began with tension in Nanyuki due to impending protests. Residents saw a country about to be dangerously misused by one of the world’s superpowers.
Angered residents of Nanyuki and its environs took to the streets, carrying placards that bore their messages. They hoped that these would catch the government’s attention.
They wanted to show the government that they disagreed with its decision to bring Ebola-infected foreigners into the area. Apparently, the current Kenyan administration has entered into a controversial agreement with the administration of US President Donald Trump.
According to the agreement, which shocked many Kenyans, Kenya will be welcoming Americans with Ebola into the country for quarantine. Ebola is a deadly and highly infectious disease.
Location of the Ebola Quarantine Center Questioned
President Ruto’s administration has decided to have Ebola-infected Americans quarantined at a center in Laikipia Air Base. In fact, it has already prepared a 50-bed facility at the Nanyuki center. Keeping Ebola patients quarantined in Kenya’s central region is meant to prevent the virus from spreading to Nairobi, Mombasa, Uasin Gishu, Homa Bay, and other Kenyan counties.
Kenyans of all walks of life have expressed their dismay at the government’s decision. They empathize with the residents of Nanyuki and Central Kenya in general. Quarantine at the Ebola center is for patients only, so staff will move freely to and from the Laikipia airbase regularly.
Consequently, there is a high chance that workers could contract and spread the ebola virus to Nanyuki town. Naturally, people move freely within the central region. Therefore, a few cases of Ebola infection in Nanyuki could spell disaster for the rest of Central Kenya.
The Nightmare of Ebola-infected Americans Camping in Kenya
Ebola is a highly infectious viral disease that can spread faster than COVID-19. It is a viral disease with neither a cure nor a vaccine. The disease that begins like a common flu soon progresses to include not just vomiting but also diarrhea. This means it can kill faster than cholera, which causes similar fluid loss, but is bacterial and has a cure.
Ebola symptoms progressively increase to total body ache, fatigue, stomach pains, chest pains, and shortness of breath, and ultimately to death. For a patient to survive an Ebola infection, medical personnel provide supportive care to mitigate the disease’s symptoms. Thereafter, the patient’s immune system continues to fight its way out of the disease.
What is in it for Kenya?
Kenyans are wondering what could make the Kenyan leadership accept such a risky undertaking. That is the challenge of hosting diseased Americans at the risk of spreading the deadly virus to locals. And the answer seems to be “money”.
Kenya’s current administration expects to receive around KSh. 1.7 billion from the US government in return for the controversial Ebola quarantine center. Officially, it is said the money will help Kenya prepare to handle any potential Ebola cases.
Why Kenyans do not Want to Welcome Ebola-infected Americans
Nanyuki residents are upset at the idea of the Ebola center. They condemn the plan to expose them to the risk of a highly infectious, deadly disease. Many Kenyans are angered, too. They know how poor the Kenyan health system is.
For instance, Kenya’s central region is among the areas notorious for diabetes and high blood pressure. Yet the residents are struggling to finance their daily bills to manage these diseases. The government claims its healthcare system supports people with such illnesses, but the reality on the ground is different.
Many Kenyans from the Mt. Kenya region managing diabetes and BP spend between sh.10,000 and sh.15,000 per month. Yet they pay out of their pockets. Many who survive long with these ailments receive medical support from private hospitals.
The rest die prematurely, often from complications of overuse of affordable first-line medications. The prohibitive cost of treatment keeps them from attending checkups for doctors to prescribe necessary changes to medication. In any case, for inpatient diabetics, the government reimburses hospitals only for bed charges. The same case applies to patients managing BP-related complications.
The patients bear the entire treatment cost, often resorting to communal fundraising, locally termed “harambee”. So, the average Kenyan in the Central region is already facing serious healthcare challenges even without an Ebola outbreak.
The Potential Ebola Complication
The Ebola quarantine center, financed by the US, is at the Laikipia air base, just meters from the local town. There are schools on the airbase, and many students commute from nearby communities. People who work at the military base also regularly interact with the community.
Obviously, someone could pick up the virus at the center and infect someone elsewhere on the airbase. That would be the start of a rapid spread of the disease.
The Ebola quarantine center, financed by the US, is at the Laikipia air base, just meters from the local town. There are schools on the airbase, and many students commute from nearby communities. People who work at the military base also regularly interact with the community.
Obviously, someone could pick up the virus at the center and infect someone elsewhere on the airbase. That would be the start of a rapid spread of the disease.
How Credible is Ebola Quarantine Center Narrative
According to the current Kenyan administration, the country will enhance Ebola preparedness by operating the Ebola center. The administration also says the establishment of the facility is part of a long-running partnership with America. Also, that the Ebola-related agreement shows that International partners have faith in Kenya.
However, Kenyans do not seem to find any goodwill in the whole arrangement. For starters, Trump has demonstrated he has no interest in helping Kenya on a humanitarian basis. Because of his policies, many Kenyans have been rendered jobless.
In fact, recently the US withdrew financial support that Kenyan institutions used to receive through USAID. The Trump administration could have given the institutions a couple of years to seek alternative means of support, but it did not.
The move not only affected the employees, but also the vulnerable communities that used to benefit from the USAID support. It also affected other stakeholders in the ecosystem, including food suppliers, were also adversely affected.
Kenyans find it hard to accept the government’s explanation for the Ebola center. They are aware that the country has no shortage of qualified medical personnel. What is lacking is the government’s capacity to integrate them into the healthcare system.
To them, the Ebola center is not meant to equip local staff with Ebola-handling skills. Kenya already has staff with firsthand experience of handling Ebola cases.
Kenya’s Part in Ebola Control in 2014
In 2014, when Uhuru Kenyatta was Kenya’s President and Barack Obama the US President, Ebola broke out in West Africa. The US stepped up and funded initiatives to contain the disease within that region.
As part of the initiatives, Kenyan medical staff voluntarily enlisted to travel to West Africa. And they went there to help mitigate the potential spread of the Ebola virus. Kenya sent a team of 170 medical staff in early 2015, to stay on for 6 months.
Hence, Kenya already has medical personnel with Ebola-handling experience, and all they need is facilitation.
That 2014 outbreak was the 2nd most serious outbreak of the viral disease. The Ebola cases recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) exceeded 2,000, and in Uganda exceeded 1,400.
Clearly, Obama’s cooperation was genuine, effective, and respectful. He and Uhuru cooperated as equals: each coming to the table as the head of a sovereign state. Obama did not make demeaning proposals to Kenya.
He did not behave in a manner to suggest that Kenya is a “shithole” country. Neither did he suggest that Kenya risk the lives of its people to ensure the virus does not reach America.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s major health facilities were prepared and equipped to handle Ebola cases. With Kenya sharing a border with Uganda, there was a risk of Ebola cases crossing over.
Kenyan medical staff were prepared and the health facilities were equipped with appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The government kept updating the nation on the Ebola situation in the region to reassure the public.
Uhuru Kenyatta’s government also formed a national rapid response team and charged it with monitoring the health situation. Anyone suspected of potentially harboring the Ebola virus was rapidly handled and their recent contacts monitored as well.
Where Ebola-infected Americans will be Hosted is Controversial
Kenya’s central region, which overwhelmingly supported President Ruto in 2022, is now disillusioned. Area residents have declared they do not want President Ruto re-elected in the next general elections scheduled for 2027.
What vexed them most was his sidelining of his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, not long after taking office. By nominating Gachagua as his running mate in 2022, Ruto won most of the votes in Central Kenya.
Some people now read mischief on the part of the Ruto administration. They see establishing the Ebola quarantine center in Nanyuki as a way to punish the region for opposing his leadership.
Generally, Kenyans as a whole are disappointed with the idea of their country being voluntarily exposed to the deadly Ebola. They empathize with the residents of Nanyuki, just as they stood in solidarity with communities recently affected by fires.
Will the Kenyan Courts Keep off the Ebola Center?
Earlier, a court temporarily blocked the Kenyan government from proceeding with the establishment of the Ebola quarantine center. According to the courts, work towards that facility should not proceed for 3 weeks.
The court made the ruling in a virtual session, with the petitioners including the Katiba Institute, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), and the Doctors’ Union of Kenya. The petitioners demanded that the government disclose the formal agreement between Kenya and the United States.
Kenya’s agreement to help out during the 2014/15 Ebola challenge was transparent. Addressing the issue in January 2015, an African Union official said that Ebola needed to be fought “where it is”. That meant taking the fight to the source of the problem.
Among those who worked alongside the Kenyans at the point of Ebola infections were 197 Nigerians and 187 Ethiopians. At no time did any government propose relocating Ebola-infected patients to another country.
Kenyans hope their government will now heed the court ruling. After all, Kenya is a democracy, where the people are presumed to be involved in the administration of their country. That is something the Kenyatta administration seemed to appreciate, as it made the Ebola-related assistance voluntary.
Trump’s Blatant Discrimination
Notably, President Trump is on record as saying he would prefer that people from Norway settle in the US. This is in comparison with people from African countries, some of which he considers “shithole” countries.
Interestingly, he is not quick to suggest that Ebola-infected Americans be quarantined in Norway. Yet they would get home from Norway faster after the quarantine.
Earlier, a court temporarily blocked the Kenyan government from proceeding with the establishment of the Ebola quarantine center. According to the courts, work towards that facility should not proceed for 3 weeks.
The court made the ruling in a virtual session, with the petitioners including the Katiba Institute, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), and the Doctors’ Union of Kenya. The petitioners demanded that the government disclose the formal agreement between Kenya and the United States.