President William Ruto has reiterated his commitment towards taming doping scourge in a bid to restore Kenya’s reputation as a sporting powerhouse in the World.
Speaking at State House, Nairobi, when he met the President of World Athletics Sebastian Coe, the head of state said the Government will advocate for a clean sport and prioritise the protection of its clean Athletes.
The government disclosed on Wednesday that they will partner with the Athletes Integrity Unit (AIU) and Athletics Kenya to ensure that issues pertaining to athletics sports management and Kenya’s battle against doping is achieved.
“We are determined to protect Kenya’s reputation and heritage as an athletics powerhouse. We are ready to work together with athletes, their contacts and partners to confront the doping menace and protect the integrity of our champions.,” said Ruto.
He announced that the Government has set aside Sh3 billion to help in the fight against doping monster for the next five years and further pledged to work together with other relevant stakeholders in creating the right frameworks for athletes to succeed.
Earlier on, Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba had indicated Kenya’s resolve to abide by World Athletics guidelines in view of preserving the country’s strong tradition of competing and winning clean.
“Held talks with visiting World Athletics President Sebastian Coe who paid me a courtesy call in my office. Discussed athletics programs and integrity, with focus on Kenya’s all out war against doping. We thank living legend Lord Coe for his support to our anti-doping efforts” he posted on Twitter
Coe’s visit comes five weeks after chairing a World Athletics Council meeting in Italy , which gave the country a great reprieve on matters of doping.
He promised to support Kenya in the fight, saying that his leadership was all about bringing integrity to international athletics.”We will work closely with the govt. of Kenya to provide every help needed to see that we eradicate cheating from our athletics,” noted Coe
Towards the end of last year, Kenya was on the brink of being kicked out of international athletics competitions over rising doping cases among her athletes and subsequently led to joint meeting between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and AIU to discuss Kenyan athletics’ fate.
WADA leads the collaborative worldwide movement for doping-free sport with its key activities including scientific research, education, and development of anti-doping capacities.
Kenya which escaped a blanket ban from World Athletics in December last year is one of seven ‘Category A’ nations recognised by the AIU to have the highest doping risk which threatens the integrity of the sport.
Source: Nam News Network