Kenyan sports journalists enlisted in fight against rising cases of doping

The government has assured close collaboration with sports journalists in the country to strengthen the ongoing fight against doping among athletes.

Speaking during a two-day workshop in Mombasa for the Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK) organised by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK), Permanent Secretary for Sports Peter Tum emphasised the need for collaboration in order to achieve desired results in anti-doping evangelism.

“Journalists play a very critical and important role in giving out factual information about this subject of doping. I am delighted to see such a forum where sports writers are enlightened about the new trends and how to tell the stories,” PS Tum said.

The workshop brought together more than 80 journalists from across the country and they were taken through a number of pertinent issues surrounding the entire antidoping war. Some of the key matters that were addressed by ADAK include the submission of the whereabouts of athletes, emerging trends in
doping, supplements, and the suspension process of athletes who are found guilty or suspected of any violation.

The State agency said the media fraternity and the public should not be surprised if the number of suspensions and bans increase drastically because they are working on more testing. ADAK CEO, Sarah Shibutse, also acknowledged the big role scribes play in educating the general public on combating
doping.

“This workshop is very key because we all understand the role that the media play in changing out the stories about doping. We want athletes to compete clean and it is the clean athletes that we are protecting. Sports journalists aid in telling these stories on what the anti-doping campaign is all about, why it is wrong for athletes to dope, athlete rights and responsibilities and what they need to do just to understand the whole space of anti-doping,” she said.

SJAK President James Wainidi thanked the state parastatal for accepting the call to train members in
the end having an open forum to engage for clarifications to spearhead better and informed reporting on the menace.

“On behalf of SJAK, I would like to thank ADAK for accepting our call to empower our members on this sensitive matter. I know from this workshop there will be improved reporting directed at helping the fight against doping in the country. We look forward to more collaborations in future”. Waindi noted.

About 192 cases have been fully prosecuted to completion and sanctions given to involved athletes.
Statistics from ADAK show that male athletes lead in antidoping violations with women only making 35 per cent of the total cases.

Meanwhile, KTN News sports reporter Moses Wakhisi has been elected as the new Secretary General for SJAK. Wakhisi, 34, trounced his worthy competitor Isaac Swila of Royal Media Services after garnering 69 votes in the polls.