World Athletics President Lord Sebastian Coe has expressed confidence in Kenya’s anti-doping efforts, commending the Kenyan government for its commitment to a Sh 646 million ($5 million) annual investment to combat the doping menace in athletics.

During a courtesy visit to the Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Salim Mvurya, flanked by Principal Secretary Peter Tum on Wednesday, Coe emphasized the significant progress Kenya has made in the fight against doping.

“We wanted to discuss two key areas,” Lord Coe shared. “One was the ongoing fight in the anti-doping space, which the Kenyan government had been so supportive of all our efforts. And the second key area, and the very prominent challenge, is gender-based violence, not entirely or uniquely linked to sport, but recognizing that we can use sport as a way of raising the profile of this challenge.”

CS Mvurya affirmed the government’s commitment to strengthening ongoing initiatives geared towards promoting high standards of integrity among athletes.

Lord Coe, who was flanked by Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei who also doubles up as the World Athletics vice president, highlighted that the Sh 646 million ($5 million) annual investment has played a crucial role in Kenya’s success, stating that “the funding made available by the Kenyan government has been extremely helpful in this fight.”

He further noted that progress has been significant compared to his previous visit two years ago when Kenya was on the brink of facing sanctions due to rising doping cases.

“I know the Athletic Integrity Unit, which is the independent organization within World Athletics that monitors and conducts all our testing programs, is very satisfied by the progress that is being made,” Coe remarked.

He added that there is now a permanent officer from the Athletics Integrity Unit engaged with Athletics Kenya and the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya, ensuring strong collaboration between the two organizations.

On the matter of Kenya’s commitment to clean sports, Mvurya echoed Lord Coe’s sentiments.

“The government of Kenya is committed to ensuring that we continue to strengthen our resolve to have athletes participate in competitions with a lot of integrity.”

CS Mvurya reiterated the Kenyan government’s continued investment in anti-doping efforts, reaffirming that the Government of President William Ruto has been fully implementing a commitment made two years ago of $5 million annual funding for the fight against doping.

“We have remained committed to ensuring that we avail resources every year to strengthen sensitization, testing of athletes, and also to do investigations, as well as making sure that we create awareness for compliance for every athlete,” he added.

The leaders also discussed issues of gender-based violence in sports, where both Lord Coe and Mvurya agreed on the importance of tackling this issue.

CS Mvurya outlined the steps the Kenyan government is taking to address gender-based violence, including the establishment of a secretariat dedicated to the issue.

“The government of Kenya has rolled out gender-based violence efforts in sports, and right now we have a whole secretariat headed by a CEO who has made a lot of progress,” Mvurya said.

Lord Coe expressed continued commitment to working together with the Kenyan Government to ensure that our athletics maintained its strong reputation on the global stage of running and winning clean.

“We are very happy with our collaboration and we will continue to work very closely with World Athletics,” CS Mvurya concluded, emphasizing that Kenya would step up efforts on both anti-doping and gender-based violence prevention.