Residents of Kenyan town hosting U.S. Ebola center oppose facility

People in the central Kenyan town of Nanyuki expressed annoyance at the plan for a US-funded Ebola quarantine centre to be opened at a nearby airbase.

The centre, built at Laikipia Air Base is set to be used to quarantine US and Kenyan citizens arriving from the DR Congo, which is battling a deadly Ebola outbreak, the Kenyan government has said.

“I think opening an Ebola facility in Kenya is not a good idea because it’s a very dangerous disease,” says Atho Halakhe, a student.

Kenya’s health minister said on Wednesday that the US-funded quarantine centre would proceed, days after deadly protests erupted over the project.

Speaking in parliament, health minister Aden Duale said the centre would serve both Kenyans and US nationals, dismissing fears it would be “exclusive”.

“Quarantine is not only for Americans. Even Kenyans will be isolated at the facility,” Duale said.

“Laikipia airbase is one of the 23 quarantine isolation centres we are building. And we will not stop it,” he added.

Kenyans are angry their territory is being used by a foreign power in a way that has colonial undertones, and over the risk of Ebola spreading.