Kenya Proposes Much Tougher Penalties for Supplying Athletes With Banned Drugs

Peres Jepchirchir, the reigning world marathon champion, was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit on Oct. 23 over an adverse analytical finding for EPO, as we reported at the time. The sample came from an out-of-competition test in Kenya taken about 6 weeks before she won the Sydney Marathon on Aug. 30. She has not yet been sanctioned, but if her case ends in a ban, runner-up Irine Cheptai could be named the Sydney champion. Since then, Athletics Kenya has issued a formal statement on the case, and a bill that would sharply raise the criminal penalties for helping athletes dope has gone to public hearings.

Athletics Kenya said on Monday that “while it is unfortunate to receive such news regarding a high-profile athlete, Athletics Kenya remains firm in its stance on promoting clean sport,” and that it “reiterates its unwavering policy of zero tolerance to doping.” Barnabas Korir, the federation’s youth development director, had already told AFP the news was “a big disappointment coming soon after we were awarded the World Athletics Championship in 2029.” Nairobi won the hosting rights in September.

Daniel Wanyama, who chairs the National Assembly’s sports and culture committee, signed the Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill, 2026 on Sept. 23, a month before Jepchirchir’s case became public. Its stated aim is to bring Kenya’s 2016 Anti-Doping Act into line with the revised World Anti-Doping Code, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027. During WADA president Witold Bańka’s visit to State House on Oct. 6, President William Ruto said tougher criminal penalties for doping would be in force from that January, Citizen Digital reported.

Anyone who unlawfully transports or transfers banned substances or methods, illegally stocks products that contain them, or administers them to an athlete would face a fine of at least 5 million shillings ($38,500), a prison term of at least five years, or both. The current law sets those minimums at 3 million shillings ($23,100) and three years, and a company convicted under the new wording would also lose its trading license for at least a year.

Doctors, pharmacists, nurses, physiotherapists, vets and traditional herbalists would face the same minimum fine or prison term, or both, for prescribing or dispensing banned substances to an athlete “with the intent of doping,” in the bill’s words. They would also lose their professional license for at least a year. Coaches, trainers, managers, agents, team staff, officials, medical staff and parents all fall under the bill’s new definition of athlete support personnel.

A separate clause deals with people who train recreationally in a gym, fitness center or private club. Anyone there who uses, possesses, administers or deals in a banned substance would face a fine of at least 1 million shillings ($7,700), at least three years in prison, or both, up from 100,000 shillings ($770) and one year now. An athlete or support staff member caught under that clause would face only the sporting sanctions in the anti-doping rules.

Kenya’s courts have already jailed people under the lower penalties. In September 2025, a magistrate’s court at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport gave Aman Malik, a 19-year-old from India, three years after he pleaded guilty to four doping-related counts, having been arrested at a training camp in Iten with human growth hormone, meldonium and mannitol, Citizen Digital reported.

The committee took the bill to forums in Kitale and Bungoma on Monday, the same day Athletics Kenya issued its statement, and the sessions were led by Malava MP David Ndakwa, Uzalendo News reported. Bintiah Kiarie, a basketball coach, told the forum: “Coaches have been the main culprits in promoting doping among the players they train.” Tobias Onjila, a football coach, supported the bill but warned: “The law needs to protect coaches and players from witch-hunts by rivals who may take advantage of it.”

By AFP’s count, the AIU has sanctioned more than 140 Kenyan athletes since it began work in 2017, among them women’s marathon world record holder Ruth Chepng’etich, who was banned for three years in 2025. If a violation is confirmed in Jepchirchir’s case, a first EPO offense carries a standard four-year ban. The bill still has to pass parliament and be signed into law, and the government wants it in place by Jan. 1.