Zakayo quits athletics as allegations cast shadow over war against doping

While the decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) to give Kenya four months to comply with its rules came as a sigh of relief, a storm kicked up by track and road star Edward Zakayo continued to cause waves.

Like Caesar’s wife, an agency mandated with the promotion of clean sport, must be beyond reproach, sports enthusiasts often say.

But recently, the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) has come under scrutiny.

In the last few days, concerns have been raised about whether rogue elements were frustrating top athletes in the pretext of war against doping.

On Thursday, President William Ruto directed Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya to reorganise Adak and inject professionalism in the agency, a move that further raised questions on how the agency was running its operations.

“We will do whatever it takes (to comply with the non-conformity allegations) and my instruction is that we reorganize Adak properly, inject professionalism and ensure that you work with the best practices and international standards so that we continue sports with integrity,” Ruto said on Thursday during a breakfast meeting to welcome athletics stars who represented the country at the 2025 Tokyo World Championships.

Since Friday, former world Under-20 5000m champion Edward Zakayo has taken to social media to make claims that have stirred emotions and are at the same time raising questions on the conduct of some doping control officers (DCO) and agents.

Yesterday, in a sad Facebook post, Zakayo announced that he has quit athletics after frustrations.

At 23 years of age, Zakayo was just starting. His athletics career was beginning to take shape, and with a young family, the foundation of social life was also solidifying.

He was born in November 2001 to a poor family in Narok and he plunged into athletics to earn an income and to change his life and that of his parents.

The rising star, who claimed the World Under-20 and African 5000m titles in 2018 and a world Under-18 3000m silver medal in 2017 trained in Kapsait before shifting his base to Iten.

In his signoff yesterday, Zakayo said: “Although I no longer compete, I continue to celebrate the achievements of current and upcoming champions. I will always respect them and cheer for them. As for myself, I have no intention of returning. I have surrendered everything to Almighty God, who knows the truth and my innocence. I take pride in leaving athletics with my integrity intact: I never attempted to dope.”

“After facing many struggles in Iten, I decided to return home to Narok. I spent days thinking about what to do and where to turn. The burden I carried had become unbearable. At the same time, ADAK continued to call me to Nairobi for a case. The lawyer was not of my choice but one they selected, and the hearings were held virtually over Zoom instead of in a proper courtroom.”

“On several occasions, I could not attend (court sessions) because of financial difficulties. These challenges pushed me into a corner, and I reached a point where I had to make a painful decision. Instead of letting depression overwhelm me or losing my life to despair, I chose to step away from athletics and seek another way to survive,” Zakayo wrote.

The promising athlete said he was working as a tour guide in Maasai Mara.

Zakayo went on to say: “In the middle of this dark period, someone extended a helping hand. His name is Jonathan Sadera, and I must acknowledge him because he became a Good Samaritan in my life. Without fully knowing what I was going through, he offered me a job as a tour guide at Maasai Mara. This opportunity gave me a new start and even took me to the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.”

“Yet, even as I tried to rebuild my life, [the agency] continued to send strangers — sometimes in government vehicles — to my home, intimidating my family as though I had committed a serious crime. I still have the WhatsApp chats that prove how this intimidation was carried out.”

Zakayo, who is in the latest list of sanctions published by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) was banned for two years for failing to file his whereabouts and not availing himself two times for sample collection within a period of 12 months last year. His ban commenced in August 2024.

In one of the allegations, Adak told the Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT) that determines most of the doping matters in Kenya that Zakayo was found by a DCO who had gone to his Kapsait training base to collect samples and that the athlete had reportedly left the country for a competition a week prior and had not returned, hence resulting in a missed test being recorded against him.