Matthew: I Am Not Comfortable

Newly-appointed Minister of Sports Daryll Matthew said he is not comfortable with his dual role as both the sports minister and president of the Antigua and Barbuda Basketball Association (ABBA).
Matthew, who was elected as the parliamentary representative for the St. John’s Rural South constituency during Wednesday’s general election, replaces Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) teammate, EP Chet Greene, as minister of sports, festivals, culture and the arts.
The new Member of Parliament said he will meet with the basketball fraternity to discuss the issue before making a final decision.
“I am personally not entirely comfortable at this point, being president of the basketball association and minister of sports and I will go on record saying that. I think it presents a clear conflict between both and so I am having an executive meeting sometime tomorrow with the executive members of the basketball association and we will discuss a couple of things. I will have some discussions on it as well at the ministry’s level and we will take it from there, but it is something that has my immediate attention,” he said.
Matthew went further, promising he will also cut ties with Myst Carnival, a popular mas’ band. 
“I can say publicly that the plan is to divest myself of any interest in Myst. I am not a person who particularly likes conflicts of interest or the perception of a conflict of interest and so I think that the best road, probably the proper thing to do, particularly in a case like this, is to remove myself completely and divest Myst of me,” he said. 
As for what can be expected, Matthew said his mission is to provide the basic necessities to those involved in sports across Antigua and Barbuda.
“It’s really to do everything we can to ensure that all of our athletes, coaches and so on have the tools they require to perform and whether those tools come in the form of finances to facilitate teams traveling, whether they come in the form of proper facilities and other infrastructural needs. These are just the things that, as minister, I need to ensure that are in place. If I don’t do that, I would have failed,” he said.
Matthew received a total of 1502 votes as the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) candidate for the St. John’s Rural South constituency. He beat the United Progressive Party (UPP) candidate, Kyron Samuel who garnered 775 votes. Erica Edwards of the DNA picked up 38 votes while Vere Bird III of True Labour Party (TLP) received 51 votes.