Government outlines ADAK functions

The Anti-Doping Association of Kenya (ADAK) has the absolute legal right to get country out of the doping quagmire after the upper house of parliament, the Senate approved its the legal authority to operate following an Executive Order by President Uhuru Kenyatta last December that formalised its existence.

According to the Parliamentary Departmental Committee of Labour and Social Welfare chairman, David Were, a letter has been written to the State Commission Advisory Committee requesting that ADAK be officially placed in its relevant category of Government Parastatals and Agencies.

He added that after categorization, the Director of Public Management Services together with the Human Resource Division in the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Arts will be engaged in the development of a valid and sustainable structure of ADAK.

The committee also reported that the National Cabinet had approved an anti-doping cabinet memorandum which has proposed an annual budget of Ksh500 million as Kenya battles to meet the April 5 revised deadline to comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code to avoid an international ban.

The roles of the agency as outlined by the committee include doping control processes which involve in and out of competition testing of all athletes and outreach programs, education and awareness campaigns during sports forums

The programs are planned to take place in campaigns by ADAK against doping which include:

• Level 2 training and certification of Doping Control Officers, DCOs
• Train and certify Blood Control Officers
• Testing of athletes
• Outreach programs, education and awareness campaigns
• Development of ADAK logo
• Branding of anti-doping materials
• Development of risk assessment
• Relevant panels to be trained include the investigations team, appeal team and result management team

Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’ however, rubbished the assurances by Government saying that all promises by the ruling Jubilee coalition have always been a ‘mirage’ citing the five ultra-modern stadia they promised in their manifesto.

“Russia has been suspended from International Athletics competitions due to State sponsored doping and what is currently happening here in Kenya does not seem to be far away from what happened in Russia,” said Kajwang’.

“Kenya is an athletics powerhouse but this should not have all of us duped into believing that because we are that good at running we cannot be suspended from international competitions,” added Kajwang’ when contributing to the debate at the floor of the Senate on Wednesday.

Passing of an effective anti-doping legislation is one of the key conditions set by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for Kenya to avoid an international competition ban that would cover the summer Rio 2016 Olympics Games in Brazil with the April 5 extended deadline for compliance fast approaching.