Kenyan Premier League body to adopt betting and doping policy

What you need to know:

  • The committee acknowledged that khat (miraa) and bhang (Cannabis Sativa) were part of banned substances.

In a bid to deal with betting fraud within the top flight, the Kenyan Premier League has proposed to adopt and customise the English Football Association betting policy.

At the same time, the league body will seek to enter into a partnership with Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) to formulate and implement anti-doping policies to arrest the use of illegal substances in the national league. These were part of the resolutions adopted at a league executive committee meeting held in Nairobi this week.
The committee is composed of the chairmen of the KPL clubs.

KPL Chief Executive Officer Jack Oguda said the new anti-doping regulations will be shared with the players and club officials, and Adak will conduct random tests and present their findings to the KPL disciplinary committee on a regular basis.

The committee acknowledged that khat (miraa) and bhang (Cannabis Sativa) were part of banned substances.

“We want to come up with a betting code to govern this betting craze especially among players and referees. This code will be incorporated into player contracts and will be signed by club officials and referees,” Oguda said.

Oguda also revealed that the company is in the process of acquiring a team of investigative officers will who will probe incidents of suspected match fixing.

“We have requested IPOA (Independent Policing Oversight Authority) to give us three investigative officers. These will play diverse roles in the running of the league, mainly to look into match fixing incidents and presenting their findings to our various disciplinary bodies,” he said.

The executive committee further agreed to engage Sports Radar to police the betting trends in the league. Sports Radar is a global company that monitors betting fraud.

And in light of the growing chorus of poor officiating in the top flight, it was also agreed that the Match Officials Appointment Committee’s mandate be extended to give them powers to review referees’ performances and to take action against errant officials based on match reports and video reviews.