US Ebola facility plan carries more reputational risk for Kenya

Health workers stand in a new Ebola treatment center during a visit of WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Bunia, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 31, 2026. [AFP]

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” - Romans 12:21 

The United States has the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Emory University Hospital, which treated Ebola patients in 2014, and over 55 federally designated biocontainment units built for the most dangerous diseases on earth.

America is not short of capacity. It is short of willingness. In 2014, President Donald Trump tweeted his position without ambiguity: “Stop the patients from entering the US. Treat them at the highest level over there.”

He was not President then. But he is now, and “over there”, it turns out, is Kenya. His administration has directed the US military to set up a quarantine facility on Kenyan soil within a week without confirmed consent from the Kenyan government for a virus America built entire infrastructure to avoid bringing home. 

This Week’s Signal

The Trump administration is planning to send Americans exposed to Ebola to a quarantine facility in Kenya, set up by the Departments of Defence, State, and Health and Human Services. The stated reason is to help patients avoid an hours-long evacuation to the United States. It was not clear where the facility would be built. It was not clear whether Kenya had signed off. 

Read that again. The most powerful government on earth is planning a military-run Ebola facility on Kenyan soil, and it is not clear whether Kenya has agreed to it.

For eight weeks this column has argued one position: Africa must negotiate the terms before others write the contract. This week that argument is not theoretical. It is standing at Kenya’s border, asking where to set up. 

What It Means for Business

Kenya’s reputation as a stable, business-friendly economy is one of its most valuable assets. The recent Africa Summit in Nairobi attracted 27 billion dollars in commitments.

French President Emmanuel Macron flew here. Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote is considering a $17-billion refinery on this coastline. That positioning took decades to build. An unsolicited, military-run Ebola facility, established without public consent, carries a reputational risk that no investment announcement can offset. The business community must say so.

 What It Means for Policy

This moment demands Kenyan professionals who have proven they can manage a health crisis. When Covid-19 struck in 2020, Kenya did not collapse. The then-Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe held the line with authority, while Dr Patrick Amoth provided the scientific backbone.

Current Health Principal Secretary Mercy Mwangangi translated policy into action, while Dr Githinji Gitahi and Dr Nelly Yatich made such a huge impact on sensitising Kenyans about the disease before many people had heard the word “Covid”.

Dr Yatich ran media and community campaigns that reached where no government announcement could. She saved lives quietly and without fanfare. Considering her American background, she is definitely able to support the Trump administration locally. If Kenya has agreed to the facility plan, Kenyans feel safe with these people. 

The hard truth is that Kenya trains over 7,500 nurses and 1,000 doctors every year. Thousands leave for the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Australia.

The same countries recruiting Kenya’s nurses are now deciding Kenya is a suitable location for their medical emergencies.

That is not a coincidence. It is a consequence. A country that trains world-class health professionals and watches them leave has weakened its capacity to respond when a crisis arrives uninvited. 

The answer is to build a health system so well-resourced that the brightest choose to stay. That means resuscitating Level 5 county hospitals, chronically underfunded and understaffed. It means mobilising funding to take Kenyan healthcare to world-class standards. A future Health Cabinet Secretary who understands both grassroots community health and institutional reform is a national security imperative.

Professionals like Dr Yatich and Mwangagi represent exactly that pipeline. Kenya must invest in them urgently. 

What It Means for People

For eight weeks, this column tracked the world recruiting Africa’s nurses, flying presidents to African summits, and promising African jobs. This week the same world decided African soil is suitable for managing a disease it refuses to bring home. 

Kenya is not a quarantine zone. It is a sovereign nation that hosted the President of France and is in discussions about a $17-billion refinery on its coastline. It deserves to be treated accordingly. 

Afterthought

In 2014, Trump said America has enough problems without bringing Ebola home. Every country has enough problems of its own. Kenya is no exception. Kenya did not cause this outbreak, did not expose these Americans, and has not agreed to manage the consequences.  The answer is not a foreign military facility. It is Kenyan nurses, Kenyan doctors, and Kenyan sovereignty at full strength. Build the hospitals. Fund the professionals. Keep the talent. That is the only policy that makes Kenya outsourceable. 

Decisions are made on the radar screen, but the future is yours. 

- The writer is a human-centred strategist and leadership columnist