Kenya survives sanctions for now but has four months to comply

World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) President Witold Banka. [AFP]

Kenya survived serious sanctions after the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) gave it four months to be fully compliant with rules governing clean sport.

Sources privy to the goings-on in saving the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) from suspension and possible ban said it took a diplomatic rollercoaster to get the athletics powerhouse off the hook.

“It was a very close call but it needed a level of diplomacy behind the scenes,” the official said.

Wada Executive Committee (ExCo) meeting on September 11 endorsed a recommendation of the global body’s Compliance Review Committee (CRC) that alleged that Adak was non-compliant with the rules.

According to Wada, the non-compliance was a result of Adak’s failure to address several critical requirements following an audit carried out by Wada in May last year.

Adak had been given 21 days, which lapsed at midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning to comply with Wada rules, failure to which Kenya would face sanctions.

The country was however given four months to address a number of pending requirements.

“During that time and ahead of the October 2 deadline, significant and demonstrable progress was made by ADAK, including the development of a corrective action plan outlining how it intends to address, within a four-month period, the outstanding critical requirements identified through the audit,” Wada said in a statement.

The global body went on to say: “This has led Wada Management to refer the matter back to the CRC for further consideration. Therefore, until such time as the CRC reassesses the case and potentially makes a further recommendation to the ExCo, and the ExCo reaches a subsequent decision, the consequences for ADAK will not apply.”

On Friday Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya assured that the country had addressed 30 compliance issues out of 35 raised by Wada.

“To date, 30 out of 35 compliance issues raised by Wada have been addressed, with a progressive action plan submitted to resolve the remaining five,” Mvurya said in a statement.

He said Adak will be restructured to strengthen its board and technical personnel in line with international standards.