If the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and Jamaica can find a date that can be mutually agreed on before the end of the year, then WADA is free to visit. So says Minister Natalie Neita-Headley in response to statements from WADA expressing disappointment that it will have to wait until next year to come in to conduct an audit of Jamaica's drug testing programme.

In response to an invitation from Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller in August, WADA had proposed dates of October 15 and 16 to come in to conduct on audit of JADCO's testing of Jamaica's athletes between February and July 2012, when the commission did not conduct any out-of-competition tests leading up to the London Olympics.

Reacting to the information that was revealed in a story published in Sports Illustrated in August, written by former JADCO Executive Director Ann Shirley, that no out-of-competition tests were done by the commission during that period. WADA director general expressed concern.

"There was a period of maybe five or six months during the beginning part of 2012 when there was no effective operation. No testing. There might have been one or two, but there was no testing. So we were worried about it, obviously," Howman told the Associated Press.

However, during the period, the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) had aggressively tested Jamaica's athletes.

key persons

Neita-Headley, minister without portfolio with responsibility for sports, said yesterday that while they would love to have WADA visit as soon as possible, several key persons were not going to be available should the visit occur now. She explained that a lot of work is being put into preparing case files for the upcoming hearings for the five athletes who returned adverse findings following the national championships in June. She said also, that she and JADCO executives were going to be among members of a Jamaican delegation that will be attending the WADA Conference in Johannesburg between November 12 and 15. It is for these reasons that they proposed January 2014 as a good time to visit.

Howman, however, speaking with the international media, said those were not sufficient excuses. His comments prompted the minister to suggest that if a mutually agreeable date could be found then WADA was free to visit. After all, the minister said, the sooner the situation was resolved, the better. "It is disheartening for us," she said of the positive tests that have sullied Jamaica's reputation in recent times. "I hate for people to have the notion that our athletes are doing well because of doping."

Howman