Athletics Kenya chairman Jackson Tuwei has sent a warning to athletes who have failed drugs tests ©Twitter

A host of top Kenyan athletes could be barred from competing at major events after Athletics Kenya chairman Jackson Tuwei claimed those who have failed a drugs test or served a doping suspension will not be able to represent the country.

Tuwei fired a warning to competitors in the nation following a spate of recent high-profile positive tests from Kenyan athletes, insisting they would not allow "any convicted doper to compete for us no matter how good they are even after completing their ban".

It effectively appears another way of introducing a life ban for drugs cheats, a concept which has largely proven unenforceable in law.

Tuwei was adamant, however, that those who have tested positive will not be selected for major events including the Olympic Games and World Championships.

This could include the likes of World Championships 800 metres bronze medallist Kipyegon Bett, three-time Boston Marathon champion Rita Jeptoo and Jemimah Sumgong, the Olympic marathon gold medallist at Rio 2016, all of whom are currently serving doping suspensions.

Tuwei also revealed Kenyan athletes will only be able to compete once they have undergone at least three out-of-competition tests and three tests during competition.

He claimed he did not want competitors from the nation to be ridiculed in the same way as controversial American sprinter Justin Gatlin, who has served two doping suspensions, was at last year's International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in London.

"We saw what happened at the 2017 World Championships in London where an athlete was booed throughout his races," Tuwei said. 

"That is what I don't want to happen to any Kenyan athlete or this country."

Numerous Kenyan athletes are currently suspended for anti-doping rule violations, while the IAAF included the distance-running superpower on a list of nations most at risk of doping in July.

Kenya also introduced an anti-doping act back in 2016, which made doping an offence that could be punished by imprisonment.

Kenya's recent doping woes prompted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to investigate, with a report outlining several concerns with the structures in place in the African country.

WADA said, however, that there was no evidence of institutionalised doping.

The report instead claimed the doping practises of athletes from the country were "unsophisticated, opportunistic and uncoordinated".