© Copyright – 2024 – Athletics Illustrated
Athletics Kenya (AK) received a donation from a betting organization ahead of the winter cross-country season. Meanwhile, on November 11, the Kenyan government announced it would support AK’s potential bid to host the World Athletics Championships. Unfortunately, the federal government dropped its promised $5 million annual fund to fight anti-doping — a menace in the sporting world.
This level of chaos is mind-bending. Or is it arrogance?
Betika has partnered with Athletics Kenya (AK) to sponsor the 2024/2025 AK Series to a tune of Ksh 15 million. This sponsorship covers the remaining legs of the Cross-Country Series and the entire 2024/2025 Track and Field Series all the way to the national championships pic.twitter.com/QvvTp7rUke
— Athletics Kenya (@athletics_kenya) November 25, 2024
AK was given Ksh 15 million to cover the cost of organizing events and will also support the national championships scheduled for 2025.
Recently, the Kenyan Sports Cabinet offered to support the bid to host the World Athletics Championships. Sports Cabinet Secretary, Kipchumba Murkomen, told the media he supports Athletics Kenya’s bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
Yet, the government of Kenya defunded the Anti-doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) in mid-September. ADAK chairman Daniel Makdwallo warned that the agency cannot run its operations. The budget was reduced to 20 million shillings (155,000 U.S. dollars) down from the 2.23 million dollars it received in the previous fiscal year.
Due to the defunding announcement, Kenya became at risk of being declared non-compliant by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) after the country’s government slashed the budget for the 2024/25 financial year.
Meanwhile, the upcoming cross-country meet winners will receive significant prize money. It was announced that the winners will pocket Ksh 50,000 each, while those who win next year’s national championships and other prestigious events will earn Ksh 150,000. This money is coming from the betting agency.
“This is a great thing and we want to congratulate all the athletes who have brought glory to this nation. In future, we should not forget where we have come from. This is the product of the road to Tokyo and we are grateful to our new partner,” Jack Tuwei said.
“We are now talking about new developments and when we talk about that, we need to take care of our athletes. We have already done three cross-countries and this weekend we shall be going to Bomet.”
WADA, AIU and World Athletics should take a long look at AK and the Kenyan Anti-Doping Agency. Athletics Kenya’s willingness to accept and invest more money into cross-country events and bid on the World Athletics Championships, yet defund anti-doping is careless. The country is laughing at the rest of the world. Meanwhile its athletes dope and take prize money that for the most part cannot be returned.
