Wario accepts receiving WADA non-compliance notice

Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Arts and Culture, Dr. Hassan Wario has acknowledged receiving notice from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) declaring the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya non-compliant with its Code.

The shocking decision exposed the country to sanctions that include a ban from international competition, including the Olympics as the sporting fraternity was reeled into a fresh doping crisis.

According to the minister, sections of the Anti-Doping Law of 2016 that was signed by President Uhuru Kenyatta on April 22 need to be amended without delay for Kenya to avert an international suspension.

“I am glad to inform you that WADA has officially written to me about ADAK’s non-compliance with the Code. They attached the areas of the Act which they want re-written or rectified for us to regain full compliance as soon as possible.

“Meaning that as soon as parliament reviews those highlighted bits of the legislation we are fully compliant. No ban was mentioned in the body of the letter. Thank you all for your support,” Wario said in a message.

WADA President, Sir Craig Reedie told Reuters the decision had not slammed the Rio 2016 door on the country as panic spread among the athletics fraternity.

“We have been working with Kenya for a number of years and thought we had agreed that the draft legislation and rules were entirely compliant and it would appear that during their parliamentary process changes were made that unfortunately weren’t code compliant so we will be in touch with Kenya to try and resolve that at the earliest possible moment,” he added.

The WADA Foundation Board announced the non-compliance verdict initially via two tweets after BBC Sport revealed on Thursday afternoon the country had failed to meet the threshold set by its Compliance Review Committee over law.

Later, WADA released a press statement outlining its decision.

“In keeping with the enhanced compliance process under the 2015 Code, the Foundation Board declared the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) non-compliant with immediate effect.

“The Kenyan authorities had been given a series of deadlines to introduce a parliamentary bill, policy and rules for the ADAK; however, following a 2 May meeting, WADA’s independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC) confirmed that the outstanding issues had still not been addressed and so made the recommendation of non-compliance to the Board.

“As in all cases of non-compliance, WADA will now hand the decision over to its stakeholders, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and UNESCO for their consideration and action,” the anti-doping watchdog said.

“WADA heard the call today (Thursday) from its Foundation Board members; in particular, its Athlete Committee members, who asked for tougher consequences for non-compliance and for further investigations,” Reedie stressed.

“We understand fully that, in the current climate, with new doping allegations surfacing, we have work to do to further secure athletes’ confidence in clean sport,” he continued.

“We appreciate the sense of urgency in light of the upcoming Rio Games and I can assure you that we take this responsibility very seriously.”

ADAK that was given legal force on December 24 last year is the body mandated to deal with all matters related to the anti-doping process including investigating and punishing drug cheats.

Wario and WADA did not spell out which sections of the Anti-Doping Law that was raced through the National Assembly without any amendments being made on the floor of the house it found to be in violation of the Code.

Kenya missed the first WADA deadline to gain compliance on February 11 and was granted an extension that was to expire on April 5. With the rigid law-making process in the country, WADA again granted the country a second extension that was pegged at May 2.

The seventh draft of the Government-sponsored Anti-Doping Bill of 2016 was within the period of the last extension taken to Parliament and shot through the three reading with President Uhuru assuring the world whilst on a trip to France that he would sign the law within a week of it being passed.

In front of various sports persons and dignitaries, the Head of State signed the Bill into law in a ceremony at Nairobi’s State House but according to WADA, some changes were made in the law that they were not informed about.

Wario will be on the spot to explain when and who made the controversial changes and at which point of the law making process since there is no record of any amendments on the floor of the august house.

“I encouraged fellow MPs not to make any changes to the Bill since we had been assured by the Government that WADA had approved everything in it. I had some amendments that I wanted to propose but because of the deadline and the fact that we were told WADA have accepted the Bill, I withdrew them.

“The Minister should come out and be clear on the issue because we cannot understand why it has come to this. It is very disappointing for the news to come at this time. I’m consulting people on the way forward,” Cherangany legislator, Wesley Korir, who was gobsmacked by the WADA ruling told Citizen Digital.

On Tuesday, Korir who won the 2012 Boston Marathon was named in the country’s team for the Rio 2016 Olympics and is among the country’s renowned distance running stars who could miss out on the biggest sporting carnival in Brazil this summer if the International Olympics Committee (IOC) rules to ban Kenya.