Over 50 athletes shall be put to the list of shame for violating the anti-doping rules at the end of this month.
Speaking in Kapsabet Nandi County over the weekend, The Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) Sarah Shibutse said that the improved testing and involving a multi-agency in their fight against doping has yielded results.
The CEO, who was accompanied by her chairman Amb Daniel Makdwallo and Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba said that many athletes have concerned and running away from testing.
“At the end of this month, we shall sanction many athletes across the country and this is part of fighting the vice as we prepare the country for the 2024 Olympic Games set for Paris. We want to send clean athletes to the Olympics to avoid the shame the nation has received in major championships,” said Shibutse adding that the elders know the athletes and are respected and will help in spreading the message because the athletes listen to them.
On the athletes dodging the doping control officers (DCO), she was specific that the crackdown will be launched and many will be suspended and they are in the process of gathering information that would identify the athletes who are on the run while listing their support personnel.
“We are now getting to know their information. We are gathering information about their training camps, their coaches and their managers. The crackdown is aimed at nabbing athletes dodging anti-doping personnel in an ongoing massive testing. We would recommend the closure and sanctioning of some training camps after conclusion of an ongoing investigation. For us to ensure success in this journey, we are collaborating with community elders and national government administration in the fight against doping,” she said.
Makdwallo described the dodging menace as worrying and cautioned those found running away from testing personnel that they would be nabbed in the ongoing crackdown.
Namwamba said the his ministry had declared a zero tolerance to doping where he said that kshs KSh3.7 billion was set aside to facilitate the war against doping and save Kenya from being banned from international championships.
“We want these resources put to good use. We already have a multi – agency team comprising National Intelligence Service (NIS), Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Ministry of Health and the judiciary among other agencies, in place,” Namwamba said.
The CS said the ongoing grassroots engagements were critical in the anti-doping programmes.
“We are going to disrupt the doping network. We are in extraordinary circumstances. Today a record broken by a Kenyan would take months to be confirmed because of doping suspicions. We are now running under suspicion. We are put under the microscope,” said the CS