Did Sports Secretary dupe Uhuru into signing shoddy anti-doping bill?
Sports Cabinet Secretary Dr Hassan Wario is on the spot in the wake of confirmation that Kenya has been declared non-complaint by the World Anti Doping Agency (Wada).
Nairobi News understands Dr Wario is at pains to explain why an anti-doping law recently signed by President Uhuru Kenyatta is not enough to make Kenya complaint.
On Friday, the President convened a crisis meeting in State House, Nairobi, following the non-compliance verdict by Wada. Those invited to the meeting were Dr Wario and the chief executive of Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) Japhet Rugut.
“As I’ve repeatedly emphasized, Kenya is 100 percent committed to ensuring total compliance with international regulations on sports and athletics, be they set by Wada, IAAF, the International Olympic Committee or any other International Organisation,” said President Kenyatta after signing the bill into law on April 22.
GLARING OMISSIONS
It is emerging that the bill President Kenyatta signed had some glaring omissions, compared to what had been agreed upon between Wada and the sports ministry.
“We have been working with Kenya for a number of years and thought we had agreed that the draft legislation and rules were entirely complaint and it would appear that during their parliamentary process changes were made that unfortunately weren’t code complaint so we will be in touch with Kenya to try and resolve that at the earliest possible moment,” Wada President Sir Craig Reedie observed.
In his response, Dr Wario confirmed as much: “Wada has officially written to me about our non-compliance to the code. They attached the areas of the Act which they want re-written or rectified for us to regain full compliance as soon as possible.”
The Wada verdict on Thursday potentially means Kenya – a renowned sporting giant in the athletics fraternity – faces an imminent ban from competing in international competitions including the August Rio Olympics.
Wada President Sir Reedie however offered a ray of hope to Kenyans, indicating that Kenya has time to put its act together before the start of the Rio Olympics.
Kenyan athletes have in the recent past tested positive of using banned substances.
