Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba, on Thursday, January 5, announced that Kenya will make an official bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
Namwamba disclosed the details during a press conference that was held in Nairobi.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe and head of Athletics Kenya Jackson Tuwei were among the dignitaries present at the meeting.
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Coe arrived in the country on Wednesday, January 4, for a three-day semi-official visit.
During the media briefing, Namwamba revealed that the country would seek to host the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) and the World Championships.
“Kenya will launch the bid to host AFCON 2027 soon as well as present an official bid to host the World Championships in 2029,” he stated.
The CS also read the riot act to the rogue agents over the doping vice that has tainted the nation’s image.
"We’ll resource the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) and support Athletics Kenya. We are in a good place to take on this war, and we’ll win.
"A few characters will not destroy a heritage built for 60 years. We are coming for all rogue agents," he added.
On his part, Coe promised to help Kenya curb the use of performance-enhancement drugs among some of its athletes.
“Kenya will be working so closely with the Athletics Integrity Unit. With the extra resourcing, the extra level of testing, and the extra level of intelligence that would be brought to those tests, the number of positives is likely to rise.
“And I have always said that I would rather have the short-term embarrassment of a positive test than the long-time decline and the reputation damage of the sport, domestically and internationally.
“I am delighted that World Athletics and the Athletics Integrity Unit will play an integral part in producing the change that everybody wants to see,” explained Coe.
He also elucidated the major difference between Kenya and Russia regarding doping. According to Coe Kenya is different from Russia since there is no doping cover-up, as in the latter’s case a few years ago.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) sanctioned Russia in 2019 due to a state-supported doping scheme.
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