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Kenya Health Minister Held in Contempt but Court Accepts Apology and Halts Ebola Facility Construction
Kenya’s High Court held Health Minister Aden Duale in contempt on June 22 for continuing construction of a U.S.-backed Ebola quarantine facility after a May halt order. Duale apologized at a June 23 hearing, which the court accepted, and ordered work suspended the same day.
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Kenya’s High Court found Health Minister Aden Duale in contempt of court on Monday for failing to halt construction of an Ebola quarantine facility at Laikipia Air Base in Nanyuki despite a May order to stop. The court had issued the halt in May after a legal challenge by the Law Society of Kenya and the Katiba Institute.
Construction continued afterward, prompting local protests during which three people died, The Washington Times reported.
Duale appeared at a sentencing hearing on Tuesday. He apologized, stating it was never his intention to defy the court’s orders. The court accepted the apology and took no further action against him.
On the same day, Duale ordered construction of the facility suspended. He stated that fears the facility could introduce Ebola into surrounding communities were scientifically unfounded. The United States committed $13.5 million to the project, The Washington Times reported, to house Americans exposed to Ebola abroad rather than returning them to the United States.
