In Nanyuki, Laikipia County, protests erupted this week over a politically charged plan by the United States to build a 50-bed Ebola quarantine facility at the Kenyan Air Force base. The facility is intended for Americans exposed to the virus in neighboring countries, but many Kenyans see it as a risky transfer of health burdens from the U.S. to Africa.
The controversy comes as President William Ruto champions a new foreign policy language, famously telling me during his 2024 state visit to Washington that Kenya was “not looking East or West, but looking forward.” It’s a compelling slogan, suggesting an Africa free from Cold War binaries, confident enough to pursue its own interests without choosing between global powers like Washington, Beijing, Brussels, or Moscow.
But foreign policy isn’t measured by slogans—it demands tough choices. And lately, Kenya’s decisions have raised doubts about whether it’s genuinely pursuing African agency or simply repackaging old patterns of dependency.
The contradiction was stark during South Africa’s G20 presidency. After decades of African leaders complaining about exclusion from global institutions, South Africa became the first African nation to hold the G20 presidency. One would expect enthusiastic support from across the continent. Instead, Kenya sent a diplomat, not senior political leadership, to a moment of profound significance. Countries worldwide dispatched heads of state and foreign ministers; Kenya did not.
This week’s protests amplify the perception that Kenya is prioritizing its special relationship with the Trump administration—which snubbed the Johannesburg summit—over collective African interests. The quarantine plan feels like a symptom of that imbalance.
Protesters argue that if Americans are exposed to Ebola, they should be quarantined in the U.S., not East Africa. Their opposition has an unlikely ally: Donald Trump himself. During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Trump blasted the Obama administration for bringing infected patients to America, tweeting, “How incompetent are our leaders allowing these Ebola infected people to come into our country with all of the problems and danger entailed! The US cannot allow EBOLA infected people back. People that go to far away places to help out are great—but must suffer the consequences!”
Redi Tlhabi is a South African journalist, producer, author, and former radio presenter.
