Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has been put to task after a new report revealed that seven Americans were under quarantine at the Laikipia Air Base.
This is after Franklin Graham, the President of Samaritan's Purse, a humanitarian organisation working to support the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of Congo, confirmed that the seven were transported to the facility for a 21-day isolation period.
Graham did not disclose whether the seven had been infected but clarified that their quarantine complied with the mandatory quarantine for Americans who worked in Ebola-affected regions before flying back to the country.
However, Kenyans have asked Duale to explain why the Americans are being quarantined at the facility, barely a month after he told the court that construction works had stopped.
On Saturday, July 18, Senior Counsel Paul Muite demanded that the government address the quarantine of the American Citizens.
Read More
Muite questioned why the government had chosen to disregard court orders stopping the construction and use of the facility pending a determination of a petition filed by the Katiba Institute.
He wondered whether the state was aware of the risks it could potentially be exposing Kenyans to.
"Can the Kenyan Government issue a public statement on this? Are U.S. citizens quarantined at Nanyuki Airbase in contempt of court orders? Are there no concerns from the government about an Ebola outbreak in Kenya? All this in pursuit of some US Dollars by some individuals!" He stated.
A concerned Kenyan demanded that the Health Boss be punished for acting in contravention of court orders and lying under oath.
"Health CS Aden Duale lied to the High Court that the US-funded Laikipia Ebola quarantine facility was halted. Yesterday, seven Ebola-infected Americans landed at the facility for quarantine purposes.
"What does this mean? The facility was not halted as Duale implied. He should now face the law for lying under oath," Dan Mwanzia stated.
Preliminary reports indicate that the American citizens were flown into the Laikipia Air Base on Monday, July 13. The seven include medical practitioners who were attending to patients and construction workers who had no contact with infected persons.
The new development came barely a month after Duale appeared in court to answer to contempt of court charges after Justice Nyaundi determined that he had violated court orders by allowing the continuation of construction works on the Ebola facility.
He told the court that he did not deliberately violate the court order and that his actions were simply due to a misinterpretation of what the court had directed.
The Health Boss told Justice Nyaundi that he had issued a directive to stop all forms of construction work at the facility pending the determination of the petition in court.
