Duale summoned for contempt sentencing over Ebola quarantine facility
Crime and Justice
By
Nancy Gitonga
| Jun 22, 2026
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale addresses the media on Kenya's Ebola preparedness at Afya House in Nairobi, on May 22, 2026. [David Gichuru, Standard]
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has been summoned for contempt sentencing over the construction of Ebola quarantine facility at the Laikipia Air Base in Nanyuki.
Duale is expected to appear before High Court Judge Patricia Nyaundi after she raised concerns of continued construction of the facility despite existing court orders.
The court directed CS Duale to personally appear and explain why he should not face consequences for the alleged failure to comply with conservatory orders stopping further activities at the site.
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Justice Patricia Nyaundi of the Milimani Constitutional and Human Rights Division ruled on Monday that the CS had willfully disobeyed conservatory orders issued on May 28, 2026, and confirmed on June 2, 2026.
The judge ordered Duale to appear before the court on June 23, 2026, at 11am for mitigation and sentencing following the contempt finding.
"On account of the foregoing, I find that in commissioning the ongoing construction of the facility at Laikipia, the 2nd Respondent (CS Ministry of Health) is in continuing contempt of the orders of the Court that issued on 28th May 2026 and confirmed on 2nd June 2026," Justice Nyaundi ruled.
The Judge found that the government had disclosed documents relating to the facility but raised concerns over the absence of key documents, including environmental and social impact assessments and safety contingency plans
The summons followed a contempt application filed by Katiba Institute and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), who accused the government of brazenly defying court orders by allowing construction at the Nanyuki airbase to proceed unabated and failing to disclose key documents relating to the Kenya-US arrangement underpinning the project.
The court heard that Duale had publicly stated, in Parliament and in media appearances, that construction of the quarantine centre would proceed despite what he termed "noise."
The court noted that on June 3, 2026 it was reported that despite the court's orders, flights carrying medical equipment and specialised personnel had landed at Laikipia Airbase, with data showing at least six military aircraft, including C-130 and C-17 transport planes, had touched down in Nanyuki since May 24 2026, three of those flights arriving after the court's orders were issued.
Justice Nyaundi rejected the CS's central defence, that any ongoing construction after the court's intervention was solely Kenya's independent national Ebola preparedness programme and had no nexus to the suspended bilateral collaboration with the United States.
"As I understand it, what the CS seeks to do is to avoid compliance by recasting or recharacterising the ongoing construction," the judge held.
"Knowing full well that the Court required all construction activities at Laikipia Airbase to cease, he persuaded himself that he could continue by altering the composition of the actors rather than the substance of the conduct."
The Judge said that she was emphatic that judicial orders do not bend to semantic reframing.
"A court order is not an invitation to ingenuity; it is a command to be obeyed. Attempts to re-label or re-describe conduct to place it outside the reach of an order do not assist a respondent; the court looks to the substance of what was done, not the gloss placed upon it," Justice Nyaundi stated.
"It is the plain and unqualified obligation of every person against, or in respect of whom, an order is made by a Court of competent jurisdiction, to obey it unless and until that order is discharged."
However, the court cleared Attorney General Dorcas Oduor of the contempt charge on the disclosure limb, finding that the disclosure obligation in the earlier orders attached solely to Duale as Cabinet Secretary, and that the AG could not be sanctioned for acts of her clients.