ADAK to prioritise education over lab testing, cases review

The law will provide a legal framework to deal with the scourge that has seen over 40 Kenyans banned for substance abuse and brought the country to the brink of an international ban from competition that would have barred the nation’s celebrated track and field team from the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Rugut was speaking Thursday during a stakeholders and validation meeting for the anti-doping law at the Safaricom Stadium hostels in Nairobi where three documents that were mandated by the World Anti-doping Agency to make Kenya compliant with the code were produced.

“Our first mandate as ADAK is to provide sensitization and public education about doping, so as to ensure that all the stakeholders and athletes know about the requirements, rules and prohibitions of ADAK.

“We have already started workshops and last week we were in Eldoret and Kapsabet and we are also planning to go to Iten .We have a sensitization outreach program with the Kenya Police Service and Kenya Defence Forces who are preparing for their National  Championships,” Rugut said.

“Anywhere we have athletes come together, we always create some time to talk to them. We also engage athletes at primary and secondary school level, since there is where talent is identified, we nurture them and make them aware of doping,” the ADAK CEO explained to Citizen Digital.

He announced his body would produce an accessible document which can be reached by all people for easy understanding on doping and provisions of the law.

“We have athletes in primary and secondary schools and we will not rely on the website, since they will not be able to download it. The Agency will gazette the document so that it can be read by all people and we also encourage people to post the document on their social media platforms and share it with others,” he declared

ADAK as the legal agency to deal with the vice and enforce the law had to develop the three documents as part of the compliance process set by WADA, first being the policy that gives an overview as to what the country thinks about doping in sport and the importance of having a clean sport.

It is from this that the Anti-Doping Bill that was passed on Tuesday was formulated and arising from the documents the rules and regulations which is the backbone of ADAK were coined.

Rugut further announced there was no definite time frame to set up a drug testing laboratory in Nairobi that is to be funded in partnership with the Norwegian and Chinese anti-doping bodies as well as re-examining the cases of athletes who have tested positive and banned for proscribed substance abuse.

“We will not give any conditional timeline as when the laboratory will be set up here is Kenya.

“We will still use the one in South Africa as we are drawing attention of the Government and other partners to develop a lab and assist us with the test, and that lab must be accredited by WADA.

“We have a committee of three doctors, whose chair doctor is a professional with five years experience, somebody who understands all types of drugs and its effects and somebody who can prescribe a certain drug to an athlete without any problem,” the ADAK boss outlined.

Report by Mercy Rop