Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK),has admitted that the journey to stardom has not been easy but rocky as they try to bring sanity in the sports.
Speaking during the sports journalists’ seminar under Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK), ADAK Director of Education Agnes Mandu said they started from nothing building trust among various stakeholders to thousands of people in the country.
“We started a journey that we did not know but now we are somewhere. The journey was unstoppable and our main objective was to bring change,” said Mandu.
She says the journey started by mapping organizations, establishment of knowledge levels and there they set the path to stardom.
“We started from a low key but we have improved day to by day. In 2015/2016, we had 694 people that we reached but come July 2017 to October 2017, the number increased to reach 10,478. In total we have 34,749 people with anti doping knowledge by creating awareness consisting of coaches, athletes, media and school,” added Mandu.
Despite all these achievements, Mandu said media has played and critical role in disseminating information. With such a grieve matter, she urged the stakeholders to ensure information sinks into the people.
“As the media personal, I would urge you to always help us by highlighting the dos and don’ts as one way of curbing the vice,” she added.
But senior researcher Martin Yauma pointed out that in future, they would like to work with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) to spread the anti doping gospel to schools. And be part of the educational curriculum.
Formed under the 2016 Anti-Doping Act, follows the global outcry on the use of banned substances in Kenya.
With athletes especially runners putting Kenya on the global map in sports, the country was put on the watch list by world Anti Doping Agency (WADA).
The two day seminar in Mombasa brought together top cream journalists in Kenya led by SJAK President Chris Mbaisi, Daily Nation sports Editor Elias Makori, Standard Newspaper sports editor Robin Toskin, People Daily sports editor James Waindi, Torome Tirike, Hassan Jumaa among others.
Mbaisi, who is the Star Newspater editor said there is need for journalists to highlight facts on doping.
“As journalists, we have a task to do and do well. We need work hard and present a truthful report. At the same time, we need to professionalise our work and make it top standard,” said Mbaisi.