The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has given the Kenyan National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO) 21 days to respond to claims of non-compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code.
In a meeting held on Thursday, September 11, WADA's Compliance Review Committee (CRC) accused NADO of failing to comply with several requirements following an audit carried out last year.
The audit carried out in May 2024 exposed serious gaps in Kenya's anti-doping rules, regulations and legislation, with the audit revealing the country's failure to meet international anti-doping standards.
Kenya was thus given 21 days to file a response to the claims made by the Compliance Review Committee; failure to which a list of proposed consequences would be implemented.
However, WADA did not explicitly reveal the exact breaches made by Kenya, but it gave the country's anti-doping agency up to October 2, 2025, to comply.
"The Signatory has 21 days following the date of receipt of the formal notice of non-compliance to dispute WADA’s allegation of non-compliance as well as the proposed consequences," WADA noted.
"It should be noted that the decision (including the consequences) will enter into force on 2 October 2025, unless the decision is challenged before the same date," the statement further read.
Hosting 2029 World Athletics Championship
The ultimatum now places Kenya at risk of sanctions from the international organisation. Kenya risks being barred from hosting WADA-related sports events, including regional, continental and world championships.
It comes a week after Kenya announced that it will formally apply to host the 2029 World Athletics Championship after it successfully hosted the African National Championship (CHAN).
Speaking on September 4, Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei said the country had already completed preparing the bid and would be submitting it to World Athletics.
"We have already prepared the documents, and we are going to present them when we go to Tokyo. After that, we will follow it up because there are requirements that we need to fulfil," said Tuwei.
President William Ruto backed Tuwei's sentiments, stating that his administration would fully back the bid with a focus on upgrading the current sports infrastructure.
