CS Salim Mvurya Breaks Silence as Kenya Races to Fix 35 WADA Issues and Avoid Sanctions

Kenya's efforts to avert a potential declaration of non-compliance by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) have reached a critical stage following a formal notice issued in September.

The government has swiftly acted on the deficiencies identified, with the Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, the Arts and Sports, Salim Mvurya, expressing strong confidence that the country is on the path to full compliance and should avoid severe sanctions.

The crisis follows an audit report released by WADA to Kenya's Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) on September 30, 2024, stemming from an initial audit conducted in May 2024.

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The report detailed a list of 35 issues that pointed towards failures to meet the requirements of the World Anti-Doping Code.

However, CS Mvurya has outlined the timeline and the progress made in addressing the compliance notice, which gave Kenya a 21-day window from its issuance on September 11, 2024, to respond or risk sanctions that would take effect on October 3, 2025.

"The World Anti-Doping Agency did an audit in May 2024…they gave us a report on the 30th of September, 2024, and that report represented 35 issues. Those issues were captured in the notice that WADA gave on the 11th of September this year, and gave a 21-day notice for Kenya, and they mentioned non-compliance issues," the CS stated.

Salim Mvurya confirmed that the concerted efforts between ADAK, the Ministry, and WADA have yielded significant results, with the majority of the concerns now resolved.

He added that the outstanding five issues are being finalised as the country awaits WADA's final decision, as he expressed confidence that Kenya is on the right track.

"ADAK has been working hand-in-hand with the ministry and WADA, and 30 of the 35 issues have now been resolved and dropped. I can confidently say Kenya is on the right track to compliance," he revealed.

"Right now, we just have to wait for the decision of WADA on the status of Kenya, but by and large, we have complied with all the requirements. We have an action plan, which we have shared. There should be no cause for alarm," he reassured the public and the global sporting community.

A key factor driving the non-compliance allegations, as highlighted by WADA's Compliance Review Committee, was the limited human and financial resources available to ADAK.

The non-conformities included failures in results management, testing procedures, and education requirements. Addressing the financial constraint, CS Mvurya provided a crucial update:

"One of the challenges was finance, and the national treasury has agreed to bring back the funding. There are no complicated issues," he added.

This commitment from the National Treasury is expected to unlock the resources needed for ADAK to sustain an effective anti-doping program going forward, resolving the systemic issues of budget constraints that affected the implementation of mandatory testing and investigative protocols.

The potential sanctions, if fully implemented, would be devastating to Kenya. Consequences could include the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya losing its WADA privileges and funding, an ineligibility for Kenyan representatives to hold WADA offices, and a ban on the country hosting future regional, continental, or world championships.

With the deadline having passed on October 2, 2025, the global sporting community awaits WADA's formal announcement on the status of Kenya's compliance based on the documented corrective actions taken by the government and ADAK.