The Court of Appeal has cleared Kenya and the United States to implement their Health Cooperation Framework, setting aside High Court conservatory orders that had suspended the multibillion-shilling pact while a constitutional challenge continues.
In a ruling dated October 9 and widely reported on Tuesday, Justices Munyao Sila, Johnson Okoth Okello and Jacqueline Kamau held that public interest favoured allowing the programme to run pending the intended appeal. Kenyans.co.ke and Capital FM put the framework’s value at about Sh328 billion; it was signed on December 4, 2025.
1.4 million patients cited
“We are of the considered view that public interest favours the implementation of the programme pending hearing of the appeal,” the judges said. They warned that keeping the suspension would “negatively impact the provision of critical treatment to 1.4 million Kenyans who depend on the drugs and Health care support system that will be provided by the Framework.”
The bench also said continued blockage could see resources redirected elsewhere, leaving the government without a workable framework even if it later won on appeal. “The lives of citizens who depend on treatment for HIV, TB, and malaria, provided under the Framework risk being negatively and irredeemably impacted,” the ruling stated, according to Kenyans.co.ke. The court reserved further determination for October 30 and ordered that the High Court’s December 19, 2025 conservatory orders be set aside pending the appeal.
Constitutional fight still open
Petitioners including the Consumer Federation of Kenya and Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah had argued the deal risked giving the US real-time access to Kenyan health records, lacked public participation and threatened sovereignty. The High Court suspended implementation; it had not finally declared the framework unconstitutional. Capital FM noted the appellate decision addresses whether the block should remain, not the merits of the constitutional dispute.
For hospitals, counties and suppliers waiting on medicines and programme funding, the practical effect is immediate: the bilateral health pipeline can move again under the Court of Appeal’s public-interest balance, while the larger legality fight returns to the calendar in late October.
Photo: IAEA Imagebank / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Sources: Kenyans.co.ke, Capital FM, Wikimedia Commons. Last updated October 2026.
