ADAK slams German Television on doping allegations

Anti-Doping Association of Kenya (ADAK) Chief Executive Officer Japhter Rugut addresses the press at the Athletics Kenya headquarters after a meeting with IAAF, government and AK officials on March 6, 2017. PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 1 – The Kenya Anti-Doping Agency (ADAK) has rubbished a report published on Sunday, July 30 by the Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) German Television Channel portraying the local body as corrupt and colluding with athlete managers to cover up for doping in Kenya.

“We wish to state that while all the above information regarding ADAK and other innuendos contained in the video clip is inaccurate, the report is also factually defective,” ADAK stated in a press release signed by CEO Japhter Rugut.

In the seven-minute video released by the Channel an ‘anonymous source’ purporting to be a Manager at ADAK details how the entire Agency is compromised as athletes take Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs).

The ‘manager’ further alleges that ADAK’s Testing Officers are bribed by Frederico Rosa, one of the top athletes managers so as to cover up doping activities by athletes.

Another anonymous source in the clip alleges that when ADAK Officers come across a positive case of doping they use the information to extort money, in form of bribes, from athletes’ managers and ensure such reports are never published.

ADAK reiterated that its role is guided by laid down international frameworks and that the Agency is just one among the many stakeholders in the anti-doping tests cycle and it is not within their powers to cover up a positive doping case since they have a private laboratory where samples collected from athletes, analyzed and the results only revealed to them.

“We also wish to dispel the notion that the Agency is a haven for corruption. As a State Agency established under the Anti-Doping Act, 2016 ADAK is founded on a platform of integrity which is also one of our core values,” ADAK further said.

“We have a legal mandate of promoting participation in sport, free from doping in order to protect the health and well-being of competitors and the rights of all persons who take part in sport. Similarly, our staff are characterized by outstanding high morals and their actions are guided by adherence to the requirements of Chapter Six of the Kenyan Constitution.”

This is not the first accusation made from ZDF to Kenyan athletes having released a series of documentaries that depict foul play on Kenyan athletes especially days to international events.

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