Kenyan government accuse West of Doping smear campaign

The Kenyan government has sensationally accused the West of clandestinely discrediting her athletics prowess through elaborate, explosive ‘doping exposes’ in select media outlets.

Kenya believes the damaging exposes that are timed just before every major international championships since 2012 are premediated and well-choreographed to hurt Kenya and her high achieving athletes.

Cabinet Secretary for Sports Amina Mohamed issued a 1300-word statement on a day one suspect was arraigned in court for conspiring with agents of the West to tarnish the good name of Kenya.

“Ministry has noted with great concern that whenever Kenya is about to participate in a major International Sporting event, unscrupulous characters embark on a mission to disparage Kenya’s decades of well-deserved sporting repertoire and our leadership in the global anti-doping efforts.

“Kenya has served on the WADA Foundation Board and collaborated with WADA to align our laws to international standards, anti-doping education, comparative anti-doping efficiency systems, athlete education, technological advancement for results management and many other core areas necessary to build an effective anti-doping ecosystem,” the Cabinet Secretary charged

Award winning journalist Hans-Joachim ‘Hajo’ Seppelt fired the first salvo in 2012 with a feature on ARD Television and Radio alleging widespread doping in Kenya ahead of the London Olympics.

After the doping dust died down Kenya went ahead and performed well in athletics with team captain David Rudisha setting a new 800m record that stands to date. 

“More importantly, Kenya has welcomed the world to witness and interact with athletes in the form of sports exchange programs, sports tourism, education and professional sports management. We have always been open, friendly, warm and welcoming to all our visitors including journalists.

“It is unfortunate that this generosity and openness has in rare, but extremely damaging circumstances such as the present case, been abused to the detriment of our national image and the impeccable global reputation of our hard- working athletes.” Added the statement by Amina

The doping stories intensified as Kenya went to Russia in 2013 for the IAAF World Championships and Rio Olympics in 2016 that culminated in the German government calling on IOC to bar Kenyan athletes from the Olympics.

Certain international journalists have made this ‘doping’ crusade a personal mission and progressed journalistic material in the form of documentaries, digital and print press based on false information aimed at destabilizing the fabric of our national sporting heritage. Thankfully, this crusade is limited to a small number of journalists from Germany and more recently Denmark and Norway.

Other allegations were made ahead of the London World Championships in 2017 and in 2019 during the lead up to Doha World Championships.