Kenya halts construction of U.S.-backed Ebola facility
· UPIJune 23 (UPI) -- Kenyan Health Minister Aden Duale halted construction on a U.S.-backed Ebola quarantine facility after a judge found him in contempt of court for defying an earlier ruling.
Kenyan High Court Judge Patricia Nyaundi on May 29, two days after the U.S. government announced it was creating a field hospital in Kenya to quarantine Americans who were exposed to Ebola, blocked construction after protests against it sprung up.
U.S. Secretary of State said early in the still-growing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and South Suden that no Ebola cases or potential cases would be permitted to enter the United States.
Health experts and rights groups in Kenya had raised concerns, amid protests, that creating a quarantine facility in Kenya, which has not had Ebola cases during the outbreak, could pose a potential danger to Kenyans, The BBC reported
Despite the ruling, construction continued until Duale was hauled into court on Monday for allegedly not stopping construction on the 50-bed facility after the court handed down its order, ABC News reported.
Duale apologized to the court and confirmed that construction of the facility, which was being set up at Laikipia Air Base in Laikipia County, Kenya, has stopped.
"By appearing in court and confirming that construction of the quarantine facility has been halted, Duale has affirmed the government's recognition that they are not above the Constitution," Nora Mbagathi, executive director of the Katiba Institute in Kenya, said in a statement.
"His apology to the Court and the people of Kenya is an important moment, not just for our courts but for our democracy and rule of law," Mbagathi said.
On Tuesday, a judge issued Duale a warning -- noting that he would be sentenced if the government did not keep the construction halted -- as plans for the facility are reviewed by the court.
The injunction that stopped construction was also extended until July 23, when the next court hearing in the case is scheduled.