Court sentences retired athlete, coach for painting Kenya as doping haven

A retired athlete and a coach have been sentenced by a JKIA court to one-and-a-half years and one year in jail, respectively, for fabricating documents to tarnish Kenya's image as a doping haven. 

Mr Elias Kiptum Maindi, a retired athlete, and coach Paul Kibet Simbolei were found guilty of fabricating doping allegations against the county's top athletes and sharing them with foreign media.

The duo prepared documents purporting that doping was being promoted and encouraged by several state agencies in the country to have Kenya suspended from participating in the Olympic Games, among other international events.

They committed the offences on diverse dates between September 16, 2019 and April 18, 2020. The charges included forgery and conspiracy to cause injury. 

Kibet and Kiptum forged documents purportedly signed by officials from the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) and Athletics Kenya (AK) that they shared with Europe-based journalists who have been part of the ring.

"It is important to set the record straight. Kenya has never had state-sponsored doping.

That was the picture that Elias and Paul intended to portray to the sports world," the court said. 

The court noted that the two, with help from influential and powerful people outside Kenya, attempted to present a picture that there was government-sponsored doping.

In her ruling, Senior Principal Magistrate Njeri Thuku said the intention was to show that Kenyan athletes compete and win using performance-enhancing drugs.

"Such a move would potentially prove disastrous for Kenyan sport. Athletes would lose the opportunity of participating in the most prestigious event," she said, adding that months, even years of planning, would go to waste.

The magistrate added that the reputational damage would be an enormous shadow cast over the country's involvement in other international events.

"Worse still is that a ban on Kenya as a country would affect all sports and not just those caught in doping," she said.  

The magistrate noted that the threat came close to being effected in 2022 but the government put in all efforts to ensure that it complied with standards established by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) to address doping.

In mitigation, Mr Kiptum said he was remorseful, telling the court that he would not repeat the offence.

He said he was the sole breadwinner of his family, and if jailed, his children might drop out of school.

According to the court, Kiptum presented himself as a whistleblower, saying that John Katio (who died while the case was pending) forwarded him the letters extracted from his phone.

Mr Kibet asked the court to forgive him, claiming that he was lured into the scheme by Kiptum. He said he believed he was collecting information for research.

The magistrate noted that the victim in the case was the Anti-doping Agency of Kenya (Adak).

And through its representative, Adak called for stiffer penalties against the two.

Adak took the firm stance because of the possible consequences had the country been banned from participating in all athletics events internationally, including this year's Olympic Games in Paris. 

The magistrate noted that Kibet has been in custody since his arrest in 2021 and had served his sentence, therefore set him free. 

In her judgement last month, Thuku said the prosecution had tabled adequate evidence to show they conspired to forge information on doping in athletics to tarnish Kenya’s image. 
She noted that Kiptum and Kibet were part of an international conspiracy ring.

The court noted that Kenyan athletes hold 15 world records, 14 world-best performances, and four Olympic Records (World Athletics, 2022), among many other accolades.
Yet, she said, many Kenyan athletes have also been sanctioned for doping. 

She said since 2016, Kenya has been on the Athletics Integrity Unit's Category "A" list, which identifies its athletes as being at the highest risk of doping. 

"Indeed, at least 53 Kenyans athletes are currently serving doping-related sanctions," she said. 

Following the claims, the government established a task force led by Professor Moni Wekesa to look into doping.

A report Prof Wekesa prepared confirmed that the performance-enhancing drug EPO (erythropoietin) was readily available from chemists in the areas where athletes train.