Doping: Let us remove the maize cob before champions step on it

The World Anti-Doping Agency's completed violations report recorded 2,005 sanctions across 124 nationalities in 2023. [Courtesy]

Among the Akamba, we say, “Ngumbau ivalukaswa ni kisakwa” - even a champion can be brought down by stepping on a maize cob. After surviving battles, one careless step can undo everything.

That proverb returned to me last Tuesday, when Kitui Green Run announced its winners after the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) completed its process. We had cheered them as champions. Then three samples tested positive, and the affected athletes lost their awards and prize money.

I was taken back to 2007, when I served as CEO of the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa. Even then, doping threatened careers, national honor, and the soul of sport. Why are we still leaving the corn cob in our path?

Two days later, during his installation as Chancellor of The International Leadership University, Prof. Kivutha Kibwana warned that Kenya faces a moral crisis and urged us to help reimagine its correction. Doping is part of that crisis: dishonesty dressed in national colors.

The latest figures force this conversation into the light. The World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) latest completed violations report recorded 2,005 sanctions across 124 nationalities in 2023. Kenya accounted for 12 per cent of athlete violations - the world's third-highest share. ADAK's live register now lists 45 provisionally suspended competitors, 35 in athletics; 26 suspension dates fall in 2026 alone. Provisional suspension is not guilt, but this pattern cannot remain a backroom conversation.

Doping drugs may sound complicated, but their danger is clear: they can harm the body and mind, destroy medals, income, and reputation, and wipe out years of sacrifice. In an athlete’s short career, a four-year ban may end it all.

Kenya ratified UNESCO’s anti-doping convention in 2009 but acted decisively only under intense pressure just before Rio 2016. WADA declared Kenya non-compliant in May 2016 and reinstated us only after corrective action. Russia’s state-sponsored doping scandal triggered sanctions starting in 2015, ultimately stripping it of its flag, anthem and international trust. Must Kenya wait for exclusion to knock again?

ADAK cannot protect Kenyan sport with courage alone. The National Treasury and Parliament should ring-fence multi-year funding for intelligent testing throughout the season, both in and out of competition, including smaller national and community races. Parliament should require an annual public clean-sport scorecard that shows tests, sports covered, case timelines, education reach, and actions against athlete-support networks, while protecting personal and medical data.

Should Kenya further criminalize doping? Yes, but intelligently. We should not fill prisons with athletes who may themselves be exploited. Sporting sanctions must remain firm. Meanwhile, sports and health authorities, professional regulators, investigators, and prosecutors must pursue coaches, agents, clinicians, pharmacists, and traffickers who supply, administer, conceal, or profit from prohibited substances. Whistleblowers need protection, suspicious supply chains must be investigated, and culpable support personnel must lose their licenses and access to sport.

Sanctions must be paired with rehabilitation. Every suspended athlete should enter a structured program that includes medical assessment, counseling, ethics education, and skills and livelihood planning, followed by monitored reintegration where permitted. Punishment without restoration can leave a young person in poverty, shame, and repeat offending.

Kenya’s 2029 World Athletics bid will test not only our stadiums but also our integrity. Prevention must begin in schools and camps through values education and clear guidance on medicines and supplements. When a minor is implicated, the adults around them must be investigated. Every race must publish its testing and award protocols.

Kitui Green Run deserves global commendation. By testing athletes and withdrawing awards when evidence demanded it, this ‘Run for Rain’ chose integrity over convenience. Its Women’s 10km champion, Jacinta Paul, embodied its spirit by advising, “Train Hard, Win Easy.” The next edition must set Kenya’s standard for racing: clean, transparent, environmentally purposeful, and athlete-centered.

Kenya must educate early, test intelligently, dismantle doping networks, and rehabilitate athletes. Let us remove the maize cob before it topples our champions, our 2029 dream, and Kenya’s proud name. Think green, act green!