NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 28 – The Senate is on Tuesday scheduled to hold a special sitting to debate the Anti-Doping Amendment Bill 2020.
The Senate debate follows its passage in the National Assembly on December 22 where the Bill was overwhelmingly supported by the lawmakers.
The sitting which will be held at 2.30pm will be a hybrid consisting of Senators who will be physically present in the Senate Chamber and Senators participating virtually through the Zoom online meeting platform.
The law is part of efforts to contain sports which been a tall order due to lack of a legal framework for stern action by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya and relevant federation to against athletes who dope.
If the Senate passes the Amendment Bill, it will provide a framework to deal with doping among athletes as the offense will now be criminal.
Among the clauses to be amended from the Anti-Doping Act 2016 is clause 18 of the Bill which proposes to amend Section 28 of the Act to provide for the use of samples and related analytical data collected from athletes, the laboratories that can test athletes and the submission of all test samples to the Agency
Elijah Manangoi, the 2017 World Champion in 1500m, is the latest elite Kenyan athlete to be banned by the Integrity Athletics Unit (AIU) over doping.
Managoi joined a list of Kenyan athletes who have been sanctioned in recent years, including former Marathon World record holder Wilson Kipsang, 2008 Olympic 1,500m champion Asbel Kiprop, 2017 London Marathon champion Daniel Wanjiru, former Boston and Chicago Marathon winner Rita Jeptoo and 2016 Olympic Marathon champion Jemimah Sumgong.
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