NAIROBI, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The dormant Kenya Anti-doping Agency (Kada) will be revived by March, the country's Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Art and Culture, Dr. Hassan Wario, announced Tuesday.

Financial grants from the Norwegian and Chinese anti-doping bodies and technical expertise from the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) will partner Kenya in re-establishing the moribund local outfit.

Speaking after a meeting with Wada and Norway officials at a Nairobi hotel, Dr. Wario said the Kada board would be reconstituted afresh as Wada expressed concerns findings into doping cases in the country were taking longer than projected.

"For the past year we have been working with Norway who is one of the partners on how we can assist Kenya and East Africa develop anti-doping programmes in the region."

"The Government of Kenya have certainly shown they are planning to ensure it is enhanced through education, structural development and resource mobilization," Wada Africa Director, Rodney Swigelaar, said.

"We are looking forward to receive a comprehensive and transparent report on what is happening here and find out if the allegations are true," he added.

"The task force is on its 23rd day of the findings, they requested for more funds on top of the 52,216 U.S. dollars that we gave them initially."

"They gave us the budget that was too high but we rationalized it and gave them the cash to continue with their task," the Cabinet Secretary explained. Officials from the Chinese body were not present during the tri-partite meeting.

Kenya came under Wada's radar when 17 athletes tested positive for proscribed substances since January 2012.
In November, the ministry involved set-up the Anti-Doping Task Force led by Professor Moni Wekesa as chairman to investigate all individual cases and those involved in supplying the drugs including medical personnel, coaches and managers.

"We have visited major cities including Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kakamega and Kapsabet where we talked to federation officials, doctors, coaches and athletes including those who have tested positive in the past."

"They have given us useful information that we are going to build on to arrive at a conclusive report that will share with the rest of the world," Wekesa said after the meeting.

Related Story

• China's Sheng Lihao wins 2nd Paris Olympic gold with men's 10m air rifle victory(08-29 19:31)
• Olympics | Day 13: Chinese diver defends Olympic title, weightlifting debutant claims gold(08-09 16:50)
• Olympics | Chinese weightlifters Hou, Li retain gold at Paris 2024(08-08 14:26)
• Olympics | Day 12: Chinese weightlifters retain Olympic golds, artistic swimming team make history(08-08 14:23)
• Olympics | Chinese diver Quan defends women's 10m platform title at Paris Games(08-07 22:37)