• On Monday, CAF (Confederation of African Football) president Patrice Motsepe gave Kenya is scheduled to co-host the 2025 CHAN with Uganda and Tanzania from February 1-28, 2025.
• ADAK Chair Daniel Makdwallo stressed that the agency’s hands are tied without adequate government funding.
Image: TEDDY MULEI
Kenya risks losing the chance to co-host the 2025 CHAN and participating in key athletics events next year due to a crippling budget crisis at the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK).
On Monday, CAF (Confederation of African Football) president Patrice Motsepe confirmed Kenya was scheduled to co-host the 2025 CHAN with Uganda and Tanzania from February 1-28, 2025.
The athletics calendar for the 2025 season is also packed with the World Indoor scheduled for March, the World Relays in May and the World Championships on September 13-21 2025 in Tokyo, Japan.
The agency's funding for the 2024/25 financial year has been slashed to Sh20 million down from Sh288 million in the 2023/24 financial year.
ADAK chairman Daniel Makdwallo stressed the agency’s hands are tied without adequate government funding.
“The reduced budget makes it impossible for us to fulfil our duties, including conducting tests and investigations. We risk falling out of compliance with the World Anti-Doping (WADA) Code,” Makdwallo said.
Image: TEDDY MULEI
Makdwallo also noted ADAK's complete reliance on government funds, as dictated by World Athletics regulations.
“We’ve raised our concerns with the Ministry of Sports, Treasury and other high-level officials, but the response has consistently been that the entire government is facing budgetary challenges,” he added.
ADAK CEO Sarah Shibutse warned that Kenya’s non-compliance with the WADA codes could lead to severe consequences.
“If we are declared non-compliant by WADA by the end of this year and fail to rectify that status by the time we host CHAN, we will lose the right to host,” Shibutse cautioned.
“ADAK's inability to carry out essential functions—such as testing, anti-doping education and result management—would leave the nation without an operational anti-doping program, further jeopardising its international standing,” she added. Shibutse pointed out the expensive expenditure of testing.
"Testing just one athlete costs between Sh77,400-Sh90,300 (600-700 USD) mainly because we take our samples out of the country. The shipping costs are quite high," she noted.
In the 2024/25 financial year, the agency has only managed to test the Paris Olympic-bound team through a special World Athletics-funded programme.
However, comprehensive testing of other athletes has stalled, putting Kenya’s anti-doping efforts at risk.
“In this financial year, we’ve only tested athletes heading to Paris, thanks to external funding. We haven’t been able to test athletes comprehensively,” Makdwallo acknowledged.
The funding for the Paris-bound team was from World Athletics funding to Adak in its efforts to combat anti-doping. The funding from World Athletics is Sh645 million (5 million USD) for five years.
ADAK has also made strides in education and awareness, reaching over 55,000 individuals in the last three years, while increasing testing numbers and enhancing detection capabilities across various sports.
Makdwallo highlighted the significant strides the agency made, testing 8,145 sportspersons in the past three years.
1,325 were tested in 2021/22, 1,035 in 2022/23, 1,285 in 2023/24 and 4,500 through a special enhanced program.
“Our progress in the fight against doping has been recognised globally. We’ve shifted from being under scrutiny to being a proactive nation in anti-doping governance,” Makdwallo concluded.