Nairobi — President William Ruto said late Monday that he authorized the establishment of a US Ebola quarantine facility at Laikipia Air Base after President Donald Trump personally requested Kenya's support.

Speaking during a North Eastern Media Roundtable in Wajir after Madaraka Day celebrations, Ruto said the decision was based on Kenya's long-standing partnership with the United States in public health, disease control, and medical research.

"When President Trump asked the government of Kenya to support them by having a center in Laikipia Air Base, I gave the okay because it was an agreement and a partnership with friends who have worked with Kenya for 30, 40 years," Ruto said.

"The American government has supported us. They have deployed huge resources in Kenya to work with us on HIV AIDS, to work with us on other diseases, they worked with us on Ebola," he added.

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The facility has become the focus of a heated national debate following reports that it would be used to quarantine and monitor Americans potentially exposed to Ebola during the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"And these facilities are meant to make sure that there is proper screening. And if there is any positive identification of people who have Ebola, then immediately they are isolated, they are treated so that we avoid any spread of the disease," the President said.

He said 23 other facilities set up in Kenyatta Hospital, in the police hospital in Nairobi, in Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, in Kenyatta Hospital in Thika, in Alupe Hospital in Busia, and in many other areas.

Hundreds of residents in Nanyuki on June 1 staged a protest against the proposed establishment of an Ebola quarantine and isolation facility at Laikipia Airbase, amid growing national debate over Kenya's preparedness and role in managing cross-border infectious disease cases.