Kenya’s increased budgetary allocation to sports will be used to fund an expansive anti-doping laboratory in Nairobi to accommodate more tests, a government official said on Saturday.
Cabinet Secretary, Amina Mohamed, who was speaking to reporters after touring the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK), said part of the 14 billion shillings ($140 million) government budget fund will be used to stage the three international competitions planned for Kenya in the 2020/21 season.
It will also use the funds to prepare the country’s team for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympic Games and other international competitions.
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Kenya is to stage the World Athletics Continental Tour series this September, the 2021 WRC Safari Rally and the postponed World Athletics U-20 Championship, which had been due to be held in Nairobi this July.
It has intensified its drug testing procedures, with over 60 athletes suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for doping-related offences in the last five years.
“I paid a courtesy call on the ADAK and affirmed the provision of the requisite financing to the agency and also evaluated priority projects such as the expansion of the anti-doping laboratory in Nairobi to accommodate more tests,’’ Mohamed said.
Kenya’s government has also started a stimulus programme to bail out vulnerable athletes whose earnings have been affected by the pandemic.
Mohamed said each athlete selected will receive the equivalent of $100 every month for the next three months.
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