This archive report was first published on 25 June 2020.
Kenya's Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has been at the forefront of efforts to tackle doping in the country's sports scene. In June 2020, she vowed to push on with her bid to make an amendment to the Anti-Doping Act to ensure anyone found guilty of doping will be jailed.
With an influx of doping cases in the country, the government has raised concerns over the issue. This year alone, four Kenyans have been slapped with bans over doping violations while five more have been suspended over the same.
Amina says the Ministry is working with the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya to make amendments to the Act to ensure that no one found guilty of doping will be walking free. The proposed amendments aim to bring the Act in line with new international terms.
“We are amending the Act because we have to bring it in line with the new international terms,” CS Amina told Capital Sports on Thursday. She added that the whole process should be completed in the next two months.
The Ministry has also formed a working team with ADAK to formulate the amended Act. Additionally, the Ministry is prioritizing the expansion of the Nairobi Laboratory to ensure it can handle testing, allowing Kenya's samples to be tested locally instead of being sent abroad.
“We have an understanding with WADA to support that. The President spoke to me and said he will give the kind of support we need to expand it. We can’t continue sending our samples to Qatar and South Africa because it is terribly costly. We want to do the same at home,” CS Amina disclosed.
