\u201cKenya is not an American colony!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was the chant echoing through Nairobi and other Kenyan cities last week as furious protesters vented their anger at plans for a\u00a0US-funded isolation ward\u00a0for Americans exposed to Ebola abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The controversial proposal has sparked fears of Ebola entering a country that has never recorded a single case of the often-fatal disease. The nearest outbreaks are unfolding more than 1,500 miles away in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where Ebola was first detected, and neighboring Uganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Critics argue the facility would expose Kenya to risks the United States would not accept on its own soil. Despite a court order halting construction of the ward pending a legal challenge, Kenya\u2019s government \u2014 which recently signed a $1.6 billion health deal with the US \u2014 has continued to back the project, fueling a public backlash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President William Ruto\u00a0defended the decision, saying it would be \u201cvery inhuman\u201d for Kenya to reject a US-funded facility after years of receiving American aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Ruto\u2019s former deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, who was impeached in 2024, told CNN the plan revealed double standards on the part of the US and should be resisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe find it unpalatable that if Americans are not willing to take care of their own patients in their own country because it\u2019s risky to the rest of the population, the Americans will decide that that can be done in Kenya,\u201d said Gachagua. \u201cWe find it unfair, we find it a double standard, and we are totally opposed to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that the deal was \u201ctotally insensitive\u201d and put US interests above Kenyan concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The controversy reflects a wider trend across Africa, where countries are increasingly pushing back against what critics describe as Washington\u2019s transactional approach under President Donald Trump and deals seen as favoring US interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Much of that pushback stems from changes in Washington\u2019s approach to Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his return to office last year, Trump\u00a0paused\u00a0almost all foreign aid and scrapped thousands of aid contracts. The move marked the beginning of the\u00a0dismantlement\u00a0of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), cutting vital health and humanitarian funding worldwide \u2014 including in Africa, one of the largest recipients of US assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For decades, US funding supported the fight against HIV\/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis across the continent. Now, those programs are being replaced by Trump\u2019s\u00a0\u201cAmerica First Global Health Strategy,\u201d\u00a0which prioritizes direct deals with individual countries. Washington says the goal is to reduce aid dependence while\u00a0advancing US interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as aid gives way to dealmaking, questions are growing about what African countries are expected to offer in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US has signed new health agreements with\u00a0at least 16 African countries, but some have stalled due to disagreements over their terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last month, Zambia\u2019s foreign minister, Mulambo Haimbe,\u00a0said\u00a0the country was reluctant to accept a proposed $2 billion health package because it required \u201cpreferential treatment of US companies over Zambia\u2019s critical minerals\u201d as well as \u201csharing of data in violation of our citizens\u2019 right to privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zambia is a\u00a0leading copper producer, a key material used in renewable energy, electric vehicles, and power grids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haimbe\u2019s comments followed\u00a0criticism\u00a0from outgoing US ambassador Michael Gonzales, who accused Zambian leaders of relying on US-funded health care while not investing enough themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gonzales denied that Washington was linking healthcare support to access to critical minerals. However, he also said that \u201cgoing forward, the benefits of our relationship must be mutual.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zambia is not alone. Similar concerns have emerged elsewhere on the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zimbabwe and Ghana have also objected to proposed multimillion-dollar agreements that include health data-sharing requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need partnerships without strings attached,\u201d Ghanaian Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh\u00a0told reporters\u00a0last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Zimbabwe, government spokesperson Nick Mangwana said the country \u201cwas being asked to share biological resources and data long-term, with no guarantee of access to resulting vaccines or treatments\u201d or reciprocity from Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDevelopment aid should empower nations, not create dependencies or serve as a vehicle for strategic extraction,\u201d Mangwana\u00a0wrote\u00a0in a blogpost in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those concerns extend beyond health partnerships and into the mining and critical minerals sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), critics question whether Washington\u2019s diplomatic efforts to end decades of conflict in the mineral-rich east are driven by genuine security concerns. The region is home to some of the\u00a0world\u2019s largest coltan deposits, used in smartphones and other electronics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Victor Tesongo, a social rights activist and senior executive in the AFC rebel coalition\u00a0battling Congolese forces, told CNN that the US cannot be seen as neutral while also\u00a0seeking access to the DRC\u2019s strategic resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such concerns grew after Trump hosted DRC President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Washington in December to\u00a0sign a peace deal\u00a0aimed at ending the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tesongo dismissed the pact as a resource grab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Trump plan has nothing to do with security or the restoration of peace; rather, it is about plundering Congolese resources,\u201d he alleged. \u201cThe proof is that after the signing in the US, the situation has not changed; the fighting continues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US maintains its involvement is aimed at\u00a0promoting regional security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taken together, the disputes in Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, and the DRC suggest a broader shift in how African countries engage external partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Solomon Dersso, founding director of the pan-African policy think tank Amani Africa, the US pursuit of its own strategic interests is nothing new. The difference, he said, is that it is now happening \u201cmore overtly and without pretence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Chitimbwa Chifunda, Zambia director for Oxfam in Southern Africa, the shift underscores the need for African countries to become less dependent on foreign aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe era of waiting for aid is fast slipping away,\u201d she said, adding that recent negotiations show African governments are increasingly willing to push back and defend their interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Simon Mulongo, a former African Union special envoy to Somalia and the Sahel, sees the same trend and argues the debate is no longer about whether Africa should partner with global powers but on what terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfrican states are no longer willing to sign away strategic assets quietly under the language of aid, partnership or emergency support,\u201d he told CNN, adding that \u201chealth cooperation should not become a back door to citizen data extraction,\u201d and security partnerships \u201cshould not become a route to mineral capture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is not isolationism. It is a demand for fair exchange.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cKenya is not an American colony!\u201d That was the chant echoing through Nairobi and other Kenyan cities last week as furious protesters vented their anger at plans for a\u00a0US-funded isolation ward\u00a0for Americans exposed to Ebola abroad. The controversial proposal has sparked fears of Ebola entering a country that has never recorded a single case of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,15],"tags":[7,47,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-41257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-health","9":"category-politics","10":"tag-apie-project","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-politics"},"yoast_head":"\n