Kenya says confident of meeting WADA anti-doping compliance deadline

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya said on Thursday it is confident of meeting an April 5 deadline set by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to comply with its regulations by passing a law against doping.





The East African nation has been a world beater in long-distance running, but it missed a WADA deadline in February to implement new regulations.

Some 40 Kenyan athletes have been banned for doping in the last three years. If WADA decides that Kenya is not complying with its rules properly, the country's track and field athletes could miss out on the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August.

The regulations also apply to other sports.

Japhter Rugut, chief executive officer of the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK), told a seminar on doping in Kapsabet in Western Kenya that the way is clear for parliament to pass the bill into law to fulfil a major condition of WADA and criminalise doping in Kenya.

"The consultant and WADA’s legal experts went through the two documents, and the contentious areas were agreed upon. The documents have already been returned to us, and I hope by tomorrow afternoon the draft will be ready,” Rugut said.

One of the issues that was clarified was Kenya's constitutional requirement in making laws where the process must go through public participation, he said.

Rugut said he was optimistic Kenya would meet the April 5 deadline set by WADA.

“We have fulfilled most of the WADA requirements,” he said.

“WADA wanted a fully fledged independent agency which is not a branch of the ministry or its department. An agency that is beyond influence from external forces,” he said.





(Editing by George Obulutsa and Hugh Lawson)


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world