WADA Representatives Commend Kenya During Visit Ahead of 2027 Anti-Doping Code Reforms

Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya hosted a high-level delegation from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in a meeting at the Talanta Plaza in Nairobi on Wednesday, January 28, 2026.

Led by Rodney Swigelaar, Director for Africa, the visit served as a critical pulse check on Kenya’s journey from the brink of a global ban to a position of reinforced compliance.

The backdrop of this meeting was the shadow cast by the 2024/2025 WADA audit. During that period, Kenya faced a severe crisis that threatened to declare the nation non-compliant, a move that would have effectively banned Kenyan athletes from international competition.

Instead, acknowledging the country's demonstrated will and institutional reforms, WADA opted to place Kenya on its Watchlist.

Addressing the delegation, CS Mvurya expressed deep gratitude for this lifeline. “The Government expressly commends WADA for its constructive and balanced engagement and, in particular, for acknowledging ADAK’s commitment to resolve the corrective actions and subsequently placing Kenya on the Watchlist rather than declaring the country non-compliant,” he said.

A major hurdle in Kenya’s anti-doping efforts has been a historical funding crisis that once jeopardised the consistency of the national program.

The Government has now moved to ring-fence funding to ensure that the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) is no longer vulnerable to budget fluctuations.

“The Government has remained consistent and deliberate in the release of funds to ADAK, ensuring that the national anti-doping programme operates seamlessly and without interruption,” Mvurya stated.

He emphasised that the state now recognises that compliance requires "predictable, adequate, and sustained financing" rather than episodic support.

While athletics has traditionally been the focus of integrity risks, Kenya is now scaling its efforts to include all sports through the Anti-Doping Program to Other Sports Disciplines (OSD).

To support this, additional resources have been identified under the Exchequer to enhance intelligence and risk-based testing.

“The government is firmly committed to implementing and expanding the Anti-Doping Program to Other Sports Disciplines (OSD) beyond athletics, in order to ensure equity, integrity, and comprehensive protection of clean sport across all sporting codes,” Salim Mvurya explained.

“Additional resources have been identified under the Exchequer to strengthen and scale up this program, enhancing governance, intelligence, investigations, and risk-based testing capacity across these disciplines.”

To maintain its trajectory, Kenya is commencing a comprehensive review of the Anti-Doping Act to align with the 2027 World Anti-Doping Code.

These reforms aim to move beyond athlete-only accountability by targeting the entourage, the doctors, and criminal networks that facilitate doping.

The planned amendments include enhancing sanctions under Section 42 of the Act, stiffer penalties for the trafficking and administration of prohibited substances, and criminalising the aiding, abetting, or facilitating of doping.

On his part, Rodney Swigelaar expressed satisfaction with Kenya’s turnaround, noting that the country's anti-doping rigour should match its legendary success on the track.

“For us as WADA, the success of Kenya in terms of its anti-doping program should commensurate with its success on sporting field and athletics track around the world is very important and we are very happy with the kind of commitment from the government of Kenya and from the other stakeholders to ensure that the program here is in line with the anti-doping code,” he said.

As Kenya transitions toward the 2027 Code, the Government remains focused on institutional strengthening, having engaged international experts to work alongside ADAK to revamp operational systems and meet evolving global standards.