The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

With Parliament now dissolved and the General Elections set for May 10, Dr Daniel Johnson’s tenure as Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture is coming to an end.

Johnson won’t be seeking re-election as the Progressive Liberal Party’s Member of Parliament for Carmichael. Instead, he will concentrate his attention on his medical practice as a foot doctor.

Looking back at his tenure in office, Johnson said he felt the PLP Government was able to accomplish their goals.

“We’re very proud of what we did, including the launch of Sports in Paradise, which was one of the best launches that we have ever seen in the sports and entertainment world,” Johnson said.

“Everybody knows about it, people like it and they have attached themselves to us. Now we are able to say what’s better in the Bahamas. Beach soccer is better in the Bahamas. We can say that track and field is better in the Bahamas.”

For the first time, Johnson said credit should be given to the various sporting federations in the hosting of multiple Carifta Games like judo for the first time and swimming, along with track and field in 2018.

“In the summer, we are preparing to host the largest sporting event in the country when the Commonwealth Youth Games will be held here,” he said.

“It’s going to be the biggest junior event ever held in this region. This will be only second in nature to what we did for CHOGM in the 1980s. So we are very proud to put the Bahamas on the map in the sports and entertainment industry.”

As the minister sitting around the cabinet table headed by Prime Minister Perry Christie, Johnson said his ministry would have accomplished everything that they had on their agenda.

“I believe the World Relays and the World Cup of Beach Soccer are the two greatest achievements for my administration,” he pointed out. “The World Relays broke the glass ceiling for us in hosting a major international event and having Usain Bolt here.

“It just tells us that we match up with the best in the world and not just on the track, but in hosting, planning the hospitality of events.

“The end product is that we are now a major player in the business of sports and we have created an industry that we have owned from the ground up, not like tourism or the banking industry.”

The Bahamas not only owns its sporting facilities, but it also holds all aspects of putting on the major events like the World Relays and the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

“We can now say that we have launched an industry that we own from top to bottom,” he said. “I’m glad that I can say that we have created it and it’s something that we can call our own.”

If there’s any low that he experienced during his tenure, Johnson said there isn’t any that he can recall. But he said if there is one thing that he would like to see achieved, it is the men’s 4 x 400 metre relay winning the gold at the World Relays at home.

“That is what I want to see and it could happen,” he said. “That’s my prediction for the World Relays.”

As he demits office, Johnson said he won’t disappear from the sporting scene, but will be making an appearance in the sports medicine and science field. “I have various projects that I have been asked to pursue,” Johnson said. “Hopefully when my kids release me again, I may get to run again later I hope.

“But it’s been great. I enjoyed it. I want to thank the Bahamian people for affording me the opportunity to have served as an MP and the Prime Minister for allowing me to fill the capacity as the minister. “If I had to do it all over again, I would. But I enjoyed my time working for the people of the Bahamas. I will now be doing some work at Princess Margaret and Doctor’s Hospital and in the Family Islands, especially in Abaco, Eleuthera and Andros. It’s still ministry, but it’s medical ministry in helping and healing.”

More so than ever, the former versatile sports athlete said he would get a chance to be a fan of sports again.