Kenya could lose the hosting rights of the next year’s African Championships (CHAN) and participation in other global events due to inadequate funding of the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK).
The country is already in a tight corner in ensuring that necessary facilities are in place by December this year for the CAF second tier men’s tournament that is scheduled to be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania from February 1 to February 28.
In a shocking revelation yesterday, the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya says its operations have been flattened by fund deficiency following colossal budget cuts from the exchequer that has barred them.from carrying out regular tests since before Paris Olympic Games.
In this financial year 2024/2025, the crucial semi-autonomous state agency was only allocated Sh 20m which is a drop in the ocean compared to the expected workload in its mandate. The allocated amount is only 6.9% of what ADAK received in the last financial year 2023/2024 which was Sh 288m.
The development could result in Kenya being flagged as a non-compliant nation according to the World Anti-Doping Agency regulations and that will lock out Kennya’s sportsmen and women from competing in international championships as well as hosting global events in the country.
ADAK’s Chief Executive Officer Sarah Shibutse confirmed that if the symptoms persisted then CHAN would be the immediate blow due to the gritty sanctions.
“If we are declared non-compliant by the WADA by the end of this year and we are we are unable to get out of the non-compliant status by the time we are supposed to host CHAN which is scheduled for February next year then for sure as country we will not be able to host the CHAN event.”
This comes just one day after CAF’s president Patrice Motsepe visited the country. Motsepe had told the continent that he was leaving Kenya with a message of confidence that East Africa is ready for the biggest and most exciting CHAN tournament ever.
Currently, ADAK is grappling with human resource management since the ksh 20m allocated to them is only capable of catering for the staff salary for barely four months this year.
Outgoing chairperson of the organization Daniel Makdwallo expressed his worry about ADAK’s mandated campaigns following the pulverization of operations due to lack of funding.
“This financial year, the Agency has not been allocated funding to undertake its core mandate programs. This move has grounded the Agency and we are not able to fulfill our obligations hence risking non-compliance with the World Anti-Doping Agency. This could make the country easily lose the gains we have made so far. I urge the National Treasury to consider this funding gap and reinstate the budget for the Agency in order to protect Kenyan athletes.”
The Kenya Academy of Sports, which is another semi-autonomous state agency under the Ministry of Sports, is facing similar challenges after failing to get any budgetary allocation from the government in this financial year.
A source from KAS has revealed to People Sports that they have not received salaries for two months now. The National Assembly Sports Committee Chairperson Dan Wanyama has been following the matter closely to see it resolved amicably.
