The latest United States travel advisory against Kenya is a betrayal of a country committed to fighting global challenges. It now finds itself in the middle of an Ebola pandemic that has shaken the East and Central African region.
However, the biggest paradox is that the US, which sought to set up an Ebola facility in Kenya, is now advising its citizens against visiting the country. But Americans infected with Ebola could be flown into the country and taken to the facility in Laikipia and quarantined before being allowed into the US.
The Ebola crisis has been aggravated by the eight confirmed cases and one death linked to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). But Health authorities have stepped up surveillance, and all the cases reported are related to the one Kenyan, who returned home quite ill and died several days later.
The US State Department raised its travel advisory from Level 2 to 3, telling its citizens to reconsider non-essential travel to Kenya due to Ebola. Other risks cited in the advisory are crime, kidnapping, terrorism, civil unrest, and traffic safety.
Some parts of the country, including Eastleigh and Kibera slums in Nairobi and the northern and coastal counties, have a Level 4 advisory. DRC is at Level 4, which means no infected person can travel directly to the US. Those quarantined will have to stay in a different country for 21 days before entering the US, which is what the Lakipia facility was meant for.
There is, so far, no evidence of widespread community transmission in Kenya. The pandemic is centred in DRC, where 4,600 deaths have been reported.
However, the World Health Organisation says there is no need for travel restrictions against the affected countries. The US advisory is, therefore, in bad taste and a mockery of its otherwise solid bilateral relations with Kenya.
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