KSAFA President Ambassador Stewart Stephenson says he has no interest in the presidency of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), preferring instead to comment on the expressed intention of Orville Powell to challenge the incumbent Captain Horace Burrell on December 20 in Kingston.

“I have no interest in accepting any position in any JFF leadership. My focus here is to complete my two-year term, my third term in KSAFA. This is my 10th year as president, my 41st year in football administration, and I want to do that successfully,” Stephenson told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

“Then at that point, sit back and appraise the way forward. I have no direct interest in any JFF position at this time,” he continued.

On Tuesday, Powell, the former president of St James Football Association between 2006-2009, and current president of Montego Bay United, announced his intention to run for the presidency of the JFF.

“My thought is that I am very surprised to see that there was a challenge to Captain Burrell, because my experience, both at the congress and in the board-room that pretty much [there is] clearly no element of disquiet among the potential delegates,” Stephenson said.

“First of all, I was caught by surprise of the challenge coming from somebody who has been close to the administration at some stage.

“Secondly, he is the president of Montego Bay United and he is a former administrator and I suppose being a clear entrepreneur, it is still for us to see what his performance could be.”

Even though some quarters of local media is already treating Powell as a candidate in their output, Stephenson sought to remind that the Montego Bay businessman will first have to fulfil nomination requirements.

“I am very cautious to express much more than say surprise, because part of his skills as an administrator will be of course to garner four votes to seek the nomination that is important.

“I don’t now what his sources of support are within the parishes, but he will certainly have to get that before he can come on the ballot. It is interesting for us to see how he accomplishes that,” said Stephenson.

Burrell, who has been at the helm since returning to power in 2007 for his second stint as president, said he would address Powell’s potential challenge if he is successfully nominated next Thursday.

“Mr Powell has expressed an interest in mounting a challenge, and that is his right to do so. But at this time he is not a candidate, and I wouldn’t want to say much more until next Thursday after the nomination,” Burrell told the Observer.

“For any interested party to get to be eligible to run as a candidate, then he must first get approval from at least four parish associations, and as far as I know, he has not got that as we speak. After next Thursday, then we will have something to talk about,” said Burrell.

Meanwhile, a highly placed official of the Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA), who did not wish to be named, deemed Powell “a partly dreamer, egotist who is unable to analyse reality”.

Andrew Price, the manager of the PLCA, said he is in no position now to speak on Powell’s challenge until he sees his plans.

“I will have to see Mr Powell’s manifesto first. I don’t know what he will bring to the table, so I will have to see his manifesto. Anybody who puts him or herself for the president of the Jamaica Football Federation, we will have to see what they are bringing to the table and I have not seen anything,” Price reiterated.

“I have never been around his stewardship, so I am not in a position to make any comments to be quite honest,” he added.

However, Stephenson believes Powell’s challenge will force the current JFF leadership to produce documentation of a clear and pragmatic way forward, something which the KSAFA boss says he has not seen for a while.

“I think, however, his (Powell) indication of being an aspiring candidate will at least, [we] hope, [force] Captain Burrell and his team will give us a manifesto,” said Stephenson.

“From his defeat to Boxhill, I haven’t heard or seen of any manifesto coming from Burrell; or at the end of each year, each term of office, a report card being presented so you can actually judge performance. So this is important,” he noted.

He continued: “Maybe now, if there is really an opposing candidate, the administration will be forced to say what they plan to do going forward and what’s their vision.”

Stephenson also had direct words for Powell, who highlighted several issues with the JFF while announcing his intention to run for office.

“It is good to identify areas of weaknesses in an administration. The other important thing is what are the solutions. What is the vision that you have going forward to solve the problem? But it’s a little premature for me, because I don’t know what his plans might be,” said Stephenson.