
PRESS RELEASE ON ANTI-DOPING RULE VIOLATIONS & ATHLETE SANCTIONS
The Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) is a State Corporation established through the Anti-Doping Act, 2016. ADAK’s mandate is to protect athletes’ fundamental rights to participate in doping-free sport and thus promoting good health, fairness and equality for athletes in Kenya.
The Agency has various functions key among them being undertaking Anti-Doping activities, ensuring the enforcement of the requisite Anti-Doping regulations, creating awareness and implementing programmes aimed at fighting doping, undertaking the necessary research and overseeing the prosecution of Anti-Doping offences.
The aforementioned is further supported by the Anti-Doping Rules, 2016. In view of the solid legal framework underpinning ADAK’s operations we hereby wish to inform the general public that in line with article 10.13 (Automatic Publication of Sanction) and 14.3 (Public Disclosure) of the Anti-Doping Rules, 2016, we have successfully prosecuted various Anti-Doping Rules Violation (ADRV) cases at the Office of the Sports Disputes Tribunal in Nairobi, Kenya.
The above cases point to ADAK’s commitment to promote clean sport, safeguard athletes’ well-being and promote fair play in sports. The Agency wishes to reiterate our responsibility to conduct sensitization programs so as to deal with the vice that is doping at all levels with a view to guaranteeing that our athletes, in particular, and the country’s reputations in general are protected.
We have an elaborate Anti-Doping Education Plan that includes workshops, seminars and outreach programs covering every part of the country and which target various stakeholders in the sports industry; athletes-both national and international level, athlete Support Personnel (Coaches, Managers etc) and children. All these efforts are aimed at ensuring that we combat doping at every level to prevent athletes from being sanctioned.
We wish to request stakeholders to support these efforts and prop up our energies towards ensuring the integrity of the Kenyan sport. In the long-term, this means a good reputation for our country and a clean sporting environment for the future generation of athletes. We wish to specifically urge our athletes and their Support Personnel to continue attending our training forums and to also liaise with us whenever they need any information regarding Anti-Doping issues.
In the meantime, ADAK shall continue prosecuting athletes and their Support Personnel found culpable of Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) in line with the laid down legal framework and in fulfilment of our strategic function. We wish to remind athletes of the provisions of Article 2.1 of the Sports Rules, 2016 with respect to the ‘Principal of Strict Liability’.