The chairman of a government-backed anti-doping task force said that Kenyans convicted of doping offenses "will face at least three years in prison and heavy fines under a draft law to be submitted to parliament," according to Obulutsa & Boyle of REUTERS. Under the bill, anyone caught possessing, stockpiling or distributing banned substances "could instead be fined" up to 1M shillings ($9,830), more than "seven times average per capita income in Kenya." Medics "convicted of prescribing or administering doping agents to athletes in Kenya, or abroad, face similar penalties." Registered sports bodies that fail to comply with anti-doping regulations "will lose public funding and could be struck off." National Task Force of Anti-Doping Chair Moni Wekesa said, "All sports bodies were taken through it and their comments noted." They "were shown the bill" on Wednesday. Kenya has been "hugely successful in middle and long-distance running for decades" but the sport, which carries "enormous prestige" in this East African nation, has been "overshadowed by doping allegations that have tainted athletics globally." Athletics is "big business" in Kenya's running heartlands northwest of the capital Nairobi. The "trickle down effect" of race fees -- the Boston marathon winner takes home $150,000 -- and "lucrative sponsorship deals play an important part in the local economy." Wekesa also said that although WADA had given Kenya a Feb. 11 deadline "to put in place anti-doping laws, the body was working closely with the Kenyan government to make the nation doping free" (REUTERS, 2/12).
