The Supreme Court of Kenya has found the Minister of Health, Aden Duale, guilty of contempt of court this Monday for proceeding with the construction of an Ebola quarantine and treatment center for United States citizens, despite the court having ordered its provisional suspension.
Judge Patricia Nyaundi has maintained that William Ruto’s government cannot “avoid compliance by reformulating or redefining the ongoing construction” and that a court order “is not an invitation to ingenuity, but an order that must be obeyed,” as reported by the BBC.
According to Nyaundi, the Minister of Health allowed work to continue at the site planned in Nanyuki, in the center of the country, even though he was aware that the order issued last month required them to be halted.
The same network has indicated that the high court is expected to issue the sentence against Duale this Tuesday, who for now has made no public statements on the case.
In early June, the Supreme Court of Kenya demanded that the Executive fully disclose the agreement signed with the United States or any other state for the establishment of the center, after decreeing the temporary suspension of the project.
The magistrate also extended the order, preventing Ruto’s government from accepting or admitting Ebola-infected US citizens or other foreigners into the facility, in response to a lawsuit filed by several civil society organizations, which warned that the pact with Washington entails “serious and imminent risks” to public health.
In recent weeks, President Ruto has backed the project, emphasizing that it is part of a decades-long cooperation with the United States and that the proposed center is one of 23 that “are part of Kenya’s disease preparedness framework,” although the plan has triggered strong protests in Nanyuki.