Why Kenyan sport should ride on Mutahi Kagwe’s momentum to root out drug cheats

From Left -ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha and Director Public Health Dr Kepha Ombacho arrive to update the country on Covid 19 at Afya House, Nairobi on Monday, April 13, 2020. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Kenya’s performance in the global war against the use of banned performance-enhancing substances has raised a lot of concern
  • Kenya has among the highest numbers of athletes sanctioned for flouting these rules with 53 currently serving suspensions of between two and eight years for anti-doping violations
  • It was good to see Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei appear on NTV last weekend to sustain the war against doping by educating athletes on various trends

Last month, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) Board declared that Kenya remains on the list of five countries classified in Category ‘A’ on the global anti-doping watch list for 2020.

Other nations in this category, that will remain in the Monaco-based watchdog’s crosshairs, are Bahrain, Belarus, Ethiopia and Ukraine, with Nigeria and Morocco fresh additions to the blacklist.

Such classification, justified under Article 15 of the newly-approved World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules that came into effect in January, makes it mandatory for the national athletics associations in question to ensure stringent anti-doping measures are in place in their areas of operation.

Kenya’s performance in the global war against the use of banned performance-enhancing substances has raised a lot of concern, with scores of runners blacklisted for fragrantly disregarding anti-doping rules.

The figures are irritating, if not downright annoying.

Kenya has among the highest numbers of athletes sanctioned for flouting these rules with 53 currently serving suspensions of between two and eight years for anti-doping violations.

Trending among these athletes is the use of anabolic steroids and other banned substances that, in layman-speak, quickly build muscle mass and enhance endurance, reducing recovery periods between workouts and competitions.

This means such unscrupulous athletes gain unfair advantage by consuming such substances that make them run faster and more frequently, therefore, in theory, enjoying the ability to make fast cash.

A quick glance shows that the common substances consumed by this elite group of nincompoops include erythropoietin (EPO), norandrosterone, clenbuterol, prednisone and prednisolone, all of which invariably enhance their performances and offers them unfair advantage.

Doping has been a major problem among athletes in Kenya. PHOTO | COURTESY |

AIU’s Category ‘A’ classification means it’s incumbent upon Athletics Kenya (AK) to, inter alia, “establish an anti-doping committee to oversee compliance with anti-doping rules, ensure an effective, intelligent and proportionate National Testing Programme for international level athletes” and also “ensure strict compliance with testing requirements for national team athletes competing at the Olympic Games.”

In my opinion, these are requirements AK, through the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak), can easily comply with should they also enlist support from the Ministry of Health.

NO COMPETITIONS

The current Covid-19 pandemic means there are no competitions globally and athletes are not under pressure to run faster or more frequently.

Conversely, they may be ill-advised to assume that anti-doping rules have been eased.

Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe and his team at the Ministry of Health’s impressive assault on the coronavirus has seen Kenya massively improve its testing protocol with health officials able to test over 1,000 samples daily for the deadly virus.

When all’s done and dusted, and the virus eventually tamed, such muscle and experience shouldn’t be lost, but should be engineered towards increasing a transparent vigilance against the sports drug cheats.

After all, there are just 147 elite Kenyan athletes currently in the international testing pool, 106 from road running and 41 from track and field, which means they can all get tested on one morning by the Ministry of Health’s muscle.

But it’s not just the pooled athletes that need testing.

Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) Chief Executive Officer Jasper Kiplimo Rugut makes a presentation on doping during Athletes’ Annual Conference at Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi on December 6, 2018.PHOTO | SILA KIPLAGAT |

It is mandatory for all active and competitive sportspeople, not just in road running or track and field, but in all other sports in which Kenya competes in internationally.

And as such, AK and all sports associations should consider an aggressive national level testing programme, outside the usual Adak protocols, that will expose the drug cheats even before the AIU and World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) procedures zoom in.

STRUCK OFF

Such transparent, incorruptible, multi-level testing will most certainly convince AIU and Wada that Kenya deserves to be struck off Category ‘A’ and encouraged to be more proactive in the fight against the scourge of doping.

That the coronavirus tests are also being carried out at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret would bode well for this fight against doping as the highest concentration of elite athletes is in the North Rift region.

It was good to see Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei appear on NTV last weekend to sustain the war against doping by educating athletes on various trends.

Athletics Kenya president Jackson Tuwei addresses a press conference at Riadha House on January 17, 2020. Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group

That they continue to dope despite such continuous education is certainly annoying and means that serious punishment must be visited on these recalcitrant imps.

CS Kagwe and his team managed to quickly push for legislation that punishes those going against the war on the coronavirus.

It would be reassuring to see similar laws passes in equally expedite fashion to allow for jail terms for athletes called out for doping.

Kenya’s Anti-Doping Act of 2016 that, inter alia, provides for the formation and constitution of Adak, fails to offer direction or impose sanctions on athletes busted for doping by reputable external agencies such as AIU and Wada.

These idiots serve their terms in the comfort of their ill-gotten gains, hardly a deterrent for others tempted into the vice.

With advancement in technology, it’s very easy to expose drug cheats, especially now that AIU and Wada have enforced the Athletes Biological Passport (ABP), a mechanism in which athletes’ biological variables are measured over time with the red flag raised when sudden irregular and unexplained spikes – which point at doping - are detected.

Our sincere thanks to CS Kagwe’s team at Afya House, and the indefatigable healthcare workers across our great nation, who are in the forefront in the fight against the deadly coronavirus.

May God protect them, and keep them safe, as their invaluable energy and experience could be summoned to help Kenya weed out drug cheats in sport.

With Kenyan prisons hopefully decongested to allow for social distancing, there should still be plenty of room to throw drug cheats into the slammer.

Makori is the Editor (Sports) at Nation Media Group. [email protected]