Government does not want to fight doping, says Korir

Cherangany MP and 2012 Boston Marathon champion Wesley Korir on Tuesday stormed out of a meeting with  Ministry of Sports officials led by Principal Secretary Richard Ekai, claiming the government wasn’t committed to fight doping in the country.

Ekai appeared before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Labour and Social Welfare to present the Ministry’s budget estimates for the 2015-2016 financial year at Parliament buildings yesterday.

Mr Korir was disappointed after the government failed to allocate a single cent to fight the menace in its budget.

The legislator took to Twitter to express his frustrations. In the proposed budget, anti-doping activities require Sh25 million but not a cent has been allocated as opposed to other activities like  completion of hostels and rooms at Kenya Academy of Sports and representation of national teams in international sports competitions.

The 32-year-old first time MP tweeted: “I am very disappointed, just walked out of a meeting with PS Sports because of their non-commitment to fight this vice in our country.

This is how Kenya is committed to fight doping in this country,” his tweet read, with the attached photo of the budget below it. The country has in the past six months made headlines for the wrong reasons after several athletes tested positive for banned substances.

Speaking to Daily Nation Sport, Korir said: “We can afford money to go to Shanghai, Doha and all other places around the world yet we cannot set aside money to fight a vice that is ending the careers of so many young runners.”

ROSA STABLE

Rita Jeptoo, a three-time winner of the Boston marathon and twice winner of the Chicago race, failed a drugs tests last September.

Jeptoo was handed a two-year ban in January for  Erythropoietin use while Athletics Kenya suspended two athletics camp that manage over 100 Kenyan athletes.

AK accused the camps, Rosa Associati, run by Italian Gabriele Rosa, and Volare Sports, run by Dutchman Gerard van de Veen, of being behind the rise in doping cases in the country, which has seen close to 40 long distance runners testing positive to banned substances over the past three years. Kenya’s Matthew Kisorio, who had been banned for two years before returning last July, was also in Rosa’s camp.