Why Athletics Kenya Youth and Development director Korir wants doping penalty to be doubled

Athletics Kenya (AK) Youth Committee chairman Barnaba Korir during an interview with the Standard Media Group Sports reporters at their Headquarters along Mombasa Road on October 23, 2022. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

Athletics Kenya (AK) Youth and Development director Barnaba Korir has called upon the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) to impose stricter punishment to athletes found doping as Kenya continues to fight against the vice.

Up to 30 elite Kenyan athletes have been suspended or banned from competing this year alone, raising fears among stakeholders that the vice was getting out of hand.

While appearing on KTN News Scoreline on Sunday, Korir said the rising cases of doping is denting Kenya's name globally and should be stopped at all cost for the sake of the future of the sport.

Korir accused the athletes of tainting the history of Kenya by doping to win big cash prizes then accepting the punishment while caught to reduce the sentencing.

"Despite having a relatively successful 2022 season with our athletes doing well, there are those who managed to do something bad that reflected negatively on our country," said Korir who doubles up as AK Nairobi region boss.

"The only problem that I see is the issue of doping that has really affected us. The problem with that is when some athletes dope, it erases the success of others who are clean and portray Kenya negatively.

"Personally, I agree with social media that the bans should be longer because if education cannot succeed and the federation and government of Kenya is doing everything possible to ensure that we reduce the numbers of dopers and we don't see the result then it has to be punitive.

"We have to find ways and means of doing that to ensure that the athletes understand. But unfortunately, the rules from World Athletics or WADA itself does not allow athletes to be penalised twice. Double-jeopardy is not allowed and that's why we still have these problems."

Kenya was placed in the top category of the World Anti-Doping Agency's compliance watch list in 2016.

It is 34 years since Cosmas Ndeti became the first-ever Kenyan runner to be suspended for doping with marathon runner Marius Kipserem being the latest to be punished for testing positive for a banned substance EPO.

Lilian Kasait competes in women's 10km race during the AK Cross Country Championships at Post Grounds. [Dennis Okeyo]

And with the number keep on rising, Korir says they are talking with the parliament and other relevant bodies to enact a law that will criminalise doping.

"Of course we have discussions now with ADAK, National Olympics Committee of Kenya and AK to see if the new members of parliament can enact a bill that will allow doping to be criminalised," he said.

"But then, it will not go the way of AIU or WADA, it has to go through an anti-narcotics framework so that an athlete who has been found to abuse EPO can be treated like having used 'hard drugs'. By doing so, an athlete can be taken to court and charged accordingly.

"Some athletes are trying to beat the system. Because of the economic situation we have in this country some of them are trying to see if they can run, take the risk and if they are caught fine, if they are not caught they escape."

He continued: "And if they are caught, they say okay, I have won some money maybe Sh3m-Sh4m then of course they will accept to be penalised because it will be reduced by one year. I think now it's necessary for the federation to discuss with AIU so that the penalty of an athlete who has been found to have used EPO and other injectable drugs cannot be reduced. Actually, it should be increased.

"If an athlete has been found to have been doped, then that athlete should give information as to where they received the drugs. If they don't give proper information, then the penalty should be doubled."

Recently, two of the country's top marathoners - Lawrence Cherono and Philemon Kacheran were provisionally suspended after testing positive for banned substances, as they prepared to fly the Kenyan flag at the World Championships and Commonwealth Games respectively.