Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has distanced herself from the forgery claims by arrested athlete that Kenya is a doping nation.
In a long press release today evening, Amina welcomed the move by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for arresting forgery suspect Elias Kiptum as part of an international conspiracy set to tarnish Kenya’s image in the athletics world.
Iten based Kiptum was arrested by the DCI that were investigating him for seven months, was on Monday arraigned before Jomo Kenyatta International Airport court.
Kiptum was accused of developing false doping allegations against Kenyan athletes, but denied all 12 charges leveled against him. He will remain in custody pending bail ruling which has been scheduled for Tuesday.
A statement on Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) social media pages indicated that Kiptum’s arrest and subsequent arraignment followed investigations by the DCI Anti-Narcotics Unit detectives.
Amina noted that whenever Kenya is about to participate in a major international sporting event, unscrupulous characters embark on a mission to disparage Kenya’s decades of well-deserved sporting repertoire.
“Most recently, there is an attempt to tarnish our respected national standing as we prepare teams for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” said Amina.
“This has been the case since doping was recognised as a crime at the beginning of the previous century. The athlete is the centre of government policy on sports,” said Amina.
Accordingly, Amina explained that her ministry has put in place a myriad of measures to protect and support the athlete as well as secure the integrity of sports in Kenya.
For instance, Amina said the National Assembly passed the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya Act. No. 5 of 2016 to provide for the implementation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention Against Doping in Sport.