MKNF Statement on the Reported Proposal to Establish an Ebola Quarantine and Treatment Facility in Laikipia County

Mt. Kenya Network Forum (MKNF), a grassroots climate, environmental and community justice organisation headquartered in Laikipia County, formally expresses deep concern and firm opposition to the reported proposal to establish an Ebola quarantine and treatment facility in Laikipia County — a plan reportedly agreed between the Government of Kenya and the United States government without open public consultation, parliamentary engagement, community consent, or transparent disclosure to the people of Laikipia.

What Was Proposed — And What Was Concealed

According to reports confirmed by senior US administration officials and covered by international media, the US government planned to operate a 50-bed quarantine unit at Laikipia Air Base — approximately 200 kilometres north of Nairobi — for Americans potentially exposed to Ebola during the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The DRC epicentre is over 1,500 kilometres from Laikipia. Additional isolation and biocontainment units were to follow.

Kenya has recorded zero confirmed Ebola cases in the current outbreak. Yet our home — Laikipia County — was selected as the proposed host site without:

• * Open public consultation with Laikipia communities.
• * Parliamentary debate or approval.
• * An independent environmental and community health impact assessment.
• * Transparent public disclosure of the bilateral agreement with the United States.
• * Independent scientific clarification on community health risks and biosafety protocols.
• * Informed consent of the people who live, work, and raise families in Laikipia.

The Kenyan government's initial public response was a statement on social media — not a public health briefing, not a parliamentary address, not a community engagement process. The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), representing over 10,000 doctors, was forced to demand publication of the agreement's full bilateral text and issued a 48-hour strike notice to compel transparency.

"We will not sit back and watch Kenya be treated as a containment colony for a lethal pathogen that we did not generate. If it is too dangerous for America, it is too dangerous for Kenya." — Dr. Davji Bhimji Atellah, Secretary-General, KMPDU

Why Laikipia Cannot Be a Containment Site

Laikipia is not a remote buffer zone available for international health experiments. It is not empty space on a map.

Laikipia County is home to thousands of families, schools, farms, community institutions, wildlife ecosystems, and strategic national installations. It is the ground from which Mt. Kenya Network Forum works. The current Ebola outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain — for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment — with a case fatality rate between 30 and 50 percent based on confirmed cases. The Zaire strain, the most lethal form, kills up to 90 percent of those infected.

These are not abstract statistics for the people of Laikipia. These are the parameters within which a foreign-managed facility was to be placed, in their home, without their knowledge or consent.

The question that has spread widely is a logical one: if a medevac flight back to the United States is considered too dangerous for exposed American citizens, by what logic is it safe to fly those same individuals into Kenyan airspace and place them in a county that has done nothing to generate this outbreak?

MKNF's Position

As an organisation working closely with local communities, institutions, schools, youth, and vulnerable populations within Laikipia and surrounding regions, we strongly believe that any matter touching on public health, national safety, environmental risk, and community wellbeing must be approached with full transparency, public participation, accountability, and informed consent.

MKNF joins the voices of Kenyan doctors, legal professionals, civil society organisations, and the communities of Laikipia in firmly opposing any attempt to establish such a facility without:

1. Open public consultation with Laikipia communities — genuine, not procedural
2. Full parliamentary scrutiny and approval — not executive convenience
3. An independent environmental and community health impact assessment
4. Public disclosure of all agreements between the Kenyan and US governments
5. Independent scientific clarification on community health risks and containment safeguards
6. Informed consent of those who call Laikipia home

While Kenya has always stood for regional solidarity, humanitarian support, and international cooperation, this must never come at the expense of public confidence, community safety, environmental protection, or national sovereignty.

Solidarity cannot become justification for using African communities as containment infrastructure for risks that wealthier nations refuse to absorb within their own borders.

We Welcome the Court's Intervention

We commend the Katiba Institute for its swift constitutional petition and the Kenyan High Court for issuing a conservatory order on May 29, 2026 — the scheduled opening day of the facility. High Court Judge Patricia Nyaundi barred Kenya from establishing or operating any Ebola-related facility under agreements with the US or other foreign governments, and from admitting anyone exposed to or infected with Ebola, until the legal challenge is resolved. The case returns to court on June 2, 2026.

This judicial intervention affirmed what communities in Laikipia already knew: no facility of this nature can be established through executive negotiation alone, bypassing the constitutional rights of the people.

But a temporary court order does not resolve the underlying question of accountability. The legal challenge continues. The government must answer. The public must remain engaged.

Our Calls to Action

The Government of Kenya must:

• Issue immediate, full public clarification on all agreements signed with the United States regarding any Ebola-related facility in Kenya
• Publish the complete bilateral text of any agreement, as demanded by KMPDU
• Commit formally that no such facility will become operational without genuine public participation and parliamentary approval
• Respect and uphold the conservatory order of the High Court

Parliament of Kenya must:

• Convene an emergency session to scrutinise any agreement that places a biocontainment facility on Kenyan soil
• Protect the constitutional rights of communities to public participation and informed decision-making
• Exercise its oversight role without delay

National institutions and county agencies must:

• Uphold transparency, constitutional process, and the health, dignity, and safety of Kenyan citizens
• Prioritise the wellbeing of Laikipia communities above bilateral convenience

Communities must:

• Remain peaceful, vigilant, informed, and united
• Demand accountability at every level of government
• Support the ongoing legal challenges through organisations like the Katiba Institute and the Law Society of Kenya

Our Commitment

As Mt. Kenya Network Forum, we remain committed to peaceful civic engagement, environmental justice, human dignity, and the protection of communities and ecosystems within Laikipia and across Kenya.

We will continue to amplify community voices, support accountability processes, and ensure that the people of Laikipia are never again excluded from decisions that affect their lives, their health, and their home.