Senate boss Cheruiyot calls for quick sanitising of Kenya's athletics

Senate majority leader and Kericho senator Aaron Cheruiyot has read rogue athletics agents plunging Kenya into more doping trouble the riot act, calling for a total ban on said persons and the arrest of their Kenyan associates. 

Kenya has been on World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) priority list for years due to the increase in doping violations in the country and the senator says the two legislative houses are ready to work with the newly appointed Sports CS Ababu Namwamba to find a lasting solution. 

Despite it not being a state-aided menace, the country is at risk of an international ban.

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So far 25 athletes have been sanctioned and there are 19 active cases pending in 2022 alone.

A majority of those affected this year are in road running and marathon where the payouts are huge. 

"Doping is one of the biggest challenges that the new Sports CS will have to content with. We are nearing a point where all our athletes' wins will be put to doubt on top of the thorough screening and testing. 

The glory that Kenya has enjoyed on the global athletics scene is being put to doubt as many are starting to question whether our athletes have been winning as much as they do due to doping, which is unfortunate and unfair to the clean athletes," Cheruiyot offered in an interview with Mozzart Sport. 

The athletes' drugs of choice are Norandrosterone and triamcinolone acetonide with Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) last month revealing that ten athletes had tested positive in 2021-22 for the latter which was still allowed in some forms last year before being banned in January.

"There are agents in the country who are misleading our young athletes with these 'quick money' tricks that land them in the doping dragnet. 

It is high time that we registered these agencies a fresh. Those who are found to have helped their athletes in doping or whose athletes have doped should be banned from operating in this country," Cheruiyot suggests. 

The legislator further took issue with the Kenyan anti-doping body ADAK saying that he had received complaints from some athletes as to how the body is handling its affairs. 

"Some of these athletes seem to be banned for some mundane issues that if they had the proper information about they wouldn't find themselves in such situations. 

The anti-doping amendment bill 2020 was hurriedly passed in the two houses to avoid a ban on Kenyan athletes to the Tokyo Olympics but there is need for a review of the same," the senator offered.

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The bill was set to harmonise the Anti-Doping Act of 2016 with the 2021 World Anti-Doping Code and Regulations to which Kenya is a party to.

"I am looking forward to some sort of seminar by the CS where athletes will get a chance to air out the issues they have with ADAK. It is a dicy situation and one that cannot be ignored without listening to either parties.

If the need for further amendments arises, the legislative houses will be ready to fast-track such for sake of the sport," Cheruiyot added.