Kenya's Health Minister Aden Duale has been found guilty of contempt of court for allowing construction of a controversial US-funded Ebola quarantine facility to continue in defiance of a judicial order. High Court Justice Patricia Nyaundi ruled on Monday that Duale had ignored a suspension order issued on 29 May, which had directed the government to halt building works at the Laikipia Air Base — a military installation located near the town of Nanyuki, approximately 140 kilometres north of the capital, Nairobi — pending the outcome of legal proceedings. Duale was ordered to appear before the court on Tuesday for sentencing.

The facility, backed by roughly $13.5 million in US funding as part of a broader $112 million American commitment to the regional Ebola response, was designed to quarantine US citizens suspected of contracting Ebola during the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The government had attempted to argue that any continuing construction was being carried out solely by Kenya in its own national interest and therefore did not violate the court's order. Justice Nyaundi dismissed that reasoning, stating that a court order