The Anti-Doping Bill is not defective, Wario asserts

Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Arts and Culture, Dr Hassan Wario has denied claims that the proposed Anti-Doping Bill does not meet the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) standards as the country battles to meet the April 5 deadline to comply with its Code.

Having received the Bill in his office on Monday, Wario admitted changes needed to made on the final draft before it is tabled in parliament and they are working on it.

The Bill has attracted criticism from Professional Athletes Association of Kenya officials (PAAK), former world marathon record holder, Wilson Kipsang and Cherangany MP, Wesley Korir, who suggested it fell short of the world anti-doping body’s expectations.

Last week, Athletics Kenya (AK) also accused the minister of trying to push a Bill through Parliament that was not compliant with WADA’s Code warning the country would get banned if the draft proposal was not rectified.

“Have they read it? Do they know anything about the doping bill? I think that they should be quiet and just focus on their work,” Wario curtly responded when queried on the subject.

In an interview with Citizen TV last week, Wario had suggested the Bill was expected to be presented in parliament this week as he accused AK’s leadership of lacking structures to run the sport.

Later Thursday, the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya sent a statement defending the draft law that aims at criminalising substance abuse in sport and proposes jailing/and or fining/or both for any athletes, coach, manager, agent or doctor found to have abetted the vice.

“It has come to our attention through recent media releases that the public has been led to believe that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has rejected the draft anti-doping policy and bill they have received from Kenya.

“Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) has engaged a consultant to draft the Anti-Doping Policy and Bill in line with the World Anti-Doping Code.  These documents, now at draft 7, have all along been forwarded to WADA for their comments.  ADAK is still in constant communication with the Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts and WADA as we wait for them to give us a go ahead on the legislation,” the statement read.

“The Government of Kenya is taking the matter of code compliance legislation and other programs very seriously.  In line with this and the WADA deadline of 5^th April, 2016 in mind, the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts and ADAK are working in conjunction with the Africa Zone V Regional Anti-Doping Organization (RADO) to ensure that Kenya is fully compliant with the provisions set within the code.

“RADO will be holding their annual board meeting next week in Nairobi and ADAK will take this opportunity to engage them further on the processes of compliance,” it added stressing the government had also fulfilled all other conditions to be compliant with the Code besides the bill.

Speaking on Monday, Kipsang and Korir said unless the Government gets its act together, Kenya will be banned from international competition and her athletes will miss the Rio 2016 Olympics for pushing through legislation that will not eradicate the doping menace.

“For sure I have gone through (it) but not so much, but I have seen it does not meet the WADA standards. I think we need to make some amendments and maybe rectify one or two things and it will be okay,” Kipsang who is readying to reclaim the London Marathon title he lost to Eliud Kipchoge last year stated.

“While we agree that some of our officials have been mentioned in the scandals and are currently serving suspension; we would like to state that the CS’s statement is not only irresponsible but also quite unfortunate especially coming from the man who is supposed to be spearheading the fight against doping.

“We know the real issue at the moment is the draft from the Anti Doping Agency of Kenya, which doesn’t meet the threshold of the World Anti-Doping Association,” AK claimed in a statement to counter Wario’s assertion its leadership was archaic.

WADA are yet to comment on any possible deficiencies with the Bill with Kenya running against time to meet the April 5 extended deadline after failing to beat the February 11th deadline.

Report by Charity Wanja