State urged to ensure full transparency in Ebola response cash

Public Health PS Mary Muthoni Muriuki and SDS Administration Mawira Mungania respond to audit queries before the National Assembly PAC on September 29, 2026. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

The Kenyan government, through the Ministry of Health, has been urged to maintain transparency in its response to the Ebola outbreak.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) say transparency will ensure the public is kept informed about efforts to contain the disease and how funds contributed towards the response are being spent.

Kenya is currently mobilising Sh70 billion for Ebola preparedness, surveillance and containment.

Wessam Mankoula, an Africa CDC representative, said the response to the ongoing outbreak must draw lessons from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where gaps in funding, accountability and flexibility have complicated efforts to respond to the disease.

Mankoula said Africa CDC had tracked about 3 billion dollars in pledges from different donors, but less than 35 per cent had been disbursed.

He called for greater accountability in the management of funds, noting that disbursements alone did not guarantee that resources reached the institutions implementing response activities.

“About 900 million dollars had been disbursed by the previous week, but implementing entities had accounted for only 200 million dollars,” said an Africa CDC representative.

The official spoke yesterday during a partners engagement meeting held in Nairobi, which brought together respective partners and donors.

To avoid misappreciation of funds, he directed donors to share disbursement information with governments so authorities can establish which institutions had received funding and what the money was intended to support.

Without such information, he warned, governments risk facing uncertainty over resources even when funds have supposedly been released.

Kenyan Government is mobilising Sh70 billion, with the National Treasury having set aside Sh2.6 billion for emergency response.

Much of the funding is, however, expected to come from international partners.

For example, the National Treasury is expecting an additional Sh21 billion from the US government, as part of the Department of State's direct assistance commitment to combat the outbreak.

Some Sh51.8 billion from the World Bank is expected to be channelled to the state, after the government sought support through the lender's Rapid Response Option.

Health workers in PPE conduct safety checks during Ebola response training in Ongata Rongai, Kajiado County on July 10, 2026. [AFP]

Kenya’s Public Health Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni called on partners to pre-commit flexible ceiling in gap required for scenario three, for multi-country spread of the virus.

Muthoni called for targeted support.

“We urgently welcome in-kind provisions of PPEs, ambulances, clinical care tubes and PCR reagents,” pleaded the PS.

Further. She called on partners to align response through coordination centres to avoid duplication and ensure a unified response.

All the support, she said, will be reported weekly in the financial tracker.

Muthoni said the country was managing eight confirmed cases of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, with evidence of local transmission prompting the government to activate scenario two of its response plan.

The cluster, she said, included family members and relatives of an earlier case, as well as healthcare workers.

Infections among healthcare workers make infection prevention and control measures, including the availability of PPE, critical to containing the outbreak.

“Our request number one is to immediately mobilise the required operations to stop transmission,” said Muthoni.

“This means direct and laboratory support for surveillance, laboratory testing, case management and infection prevention and control to protect our healthcare workers,” she added.

She added that with the current cases, the ministry’s primary objective in the next seven days is absolute containment, ensuring every case is known and every contact is isolated within 24 hours of symptom onset.

According to the PS, the authority had traced more than 98 per cent of known contacts, with 125 individuals currently being monitored in quarantine and treatment settings.

However, sustaining these operations and preventing further spread will require additional resources, she said.

Muthoni appealed to development partners and other stakeholders to urgently mobilise funding to meet the operational needs of the response, including surveillance, laboratory testing, case management and infection prevention and control.

She said protecting healthcare workers was particularly important as the country stepped up efforts to contain transmission.

She emphasised that financial support is key to prepare for a possible wider outbreak affecting multiple counties.

“The country must not wait for transmission to escalate before strengthening its response,” she said.

Her sentiments were echoed by Africa CDC, which warned that delays in turning pledges into actual funding could undermine efforts to contain Ebola outbreaks.

Mankoula said governments and their partners must move quickly to mobilise resources and act.

“Viruses will not wait for us to move from pledges to commitments, and from commitments to resources, and take appropriate action,” said Mankoula.

AT the same time, he commended the Kenyan government and the Ministry of Health for their swift response and transparency in managing the outbreak.

He said transparent communication was particularly important in countering rumours that the outbreak was being used by governments to attract more resources.

He also cautioned against imposing travel restrictions, saying such measures could send the wrong message and undermine efforts to manage the outbreak.

Africa CDC has opposed travel restrictions as a response to the outbreak, with Mankoula arguing that countries should instead strengthen coordination and response measures.

On resource mobilisation, he said the experience in the DRC had exposed a persistent gap between money pledged by donors and funds actually disbursed to support response activities.

In DR Congo, Africa CDC said over $700 million for Ebola response funds was unaccounted for.

At the same time, Mankoula called for greater flexibility in the use of emergency funding, saying outbreak response needs change as the situation evolves.

He cited a continental tracker indicating that 87 per cent of pledged Ebola response resources were earmarked for specific purposes, limiting the ability to redirect funds to emerging priorities.

He said donors should allow resources to be deployed more quickly as needs arise, rather than tying them to rigid allocations that may not reflect changing circumstances.

“At the regional level, Africa CDC was strengthening coordination and collaboration with WHO and more than 30 partners to support the response.

He said countries and response partners needed to work together to ensure resources were available when and where they were needed, rather than allowing administrative and funding delays to slow action against the virus.

Notably, PS Muthoni called on county governments to set up infrastructure as Ebola preparedness measures.

“Kindly, all counties must find some infrastructure, just in case for isolation or quarantine centres,” said Muthoni.

“It is important, whether it is a risk county or any other county, because you don't know the spread and risk, which would move if we get one in the communities. I request counties to get ready, have a facility that can be turned into a quarantine centre, or isolation centre”.

Council of Governors (COG) said though county governments had been involved in response, more is needed to strengthen preparedness.

CoG representative, Mebo Abuor, said training provided by various partners was not yet sufficient to give health workers the confidence needed to handle Ebola cases safely.

“We need to invest more in training to boost their confidence. When they are confident, we reduce the panic,” said Abuor.