Kenya’s increased budgetary allocation to sports will be used to fund an expansive anti-doping laboratory in Nairobi to accommodate more tests, a government official said on Saturday.
Cabinet secretary Amina Mohamed, who was speaking to reporters after touring the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK), said part of the 14 billion shilling (140 million U.S. dollar) government budget fund will be used to stage the three international competitions planned for Kenya in the 2020/21 season.
It will also use the funds to prepare the country’s team for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympic Games and other international competitions.
Kenya is to stage the World Athletics Continental Tour series this September, the 2021 WRC Safari Rally, and the postponed World Athletics U-20 Championship, which had been due to be held in Nairobi this July.
Kenya has intensified its drug testing procedures, with over 60 athletes suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for doping-related offenses in the last five years.
