Protests have erupted at a Kenyan Ebola quarantine centre after a mother discovered her son's body in a locked storage room, sources confirm. The woman, identified only as Grace Mwangi, had been searching for her 14-year-old son since he was taken from their home in Nairobi last week under the government's mandatory quarantine order. The discovery turned the facility, a repurposed school on the city's outskirts, into a flashpoint for anger and grief.
Witnesses describe a scene of chaos as hundreds of locals gathered outside the centre, demanding answers and accountability. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, but clashes continued into the evening. The quarantine centre is part of a British-funded aid programme designed to contain potential Ebola outbreaks in East Africa. A UK aid team is on standby, according to internal documents obtained by this reporter.
The mother's ordeal began on 3 March when health officials, accompanied by armed police, forcibly removed her son from their home. He was listed as a 'high-risk contact' of a suspected Ebola case, though no diagnosis was ever confirmed. For three days, she was denied access to the facility. When she finally forced her way in yesterday, she found her son's body in a storage room, showing signs of neglect.
The Kenyan Ministry of Health has not commented, but a leaked internal memo from the UK Department for International Development warns of a 'credible risk of civil unrest' if the incident is mishandled. The memo, marked 'sensitive', suggests the UK aid team may be withdrawn if the situation escalates.
This is not the first scandal to hit the Ebola response programme. Last month, an investigation by this newspaper revealed that funds intended for quarantine centres had been diverted to pay for luxury vehicles for government officials. The Kenyan Anti-Corruption Commission has yet to act on the findings.
The UK Foreign Office maintains that all aid is subject to 'rigorous oversight'. But the documents tell a different story: a pattern of mismanagement, cover-ups, and a system that puts vulnerable people at risk. The mother's son is the third reported death inside the quarantine centre since it opened six weeks ago.
As I write this, the protesters are still there, their torches flickering in the darkness. The UK aid team is on standby. But for one mother, no amount of standby assistance will bring back her son. The question is: how many more bodies will be found before the system is held to account?
