Ambassador A B Stewart Stephenson, former president of Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) made a bold statement of intent for the post of president of Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) with the launch of his manifesto at Terra Nova Hotel on Thursday, 17 days before the election to decide a new president following the passing of former p resident Captain Horace Burrell.

While hosting a breakfast meeting for a number of powerful corporate executives including Ricardo Nuncio, managing director of Red Stripe, title sponsors of Jamaica’s Premier League football competition, Stephenson outlined wide-ranging plans for the improvement of football in the country.

A former member of the board of the Jamaica Football Federation, Stephenson, who was president of KSAFA for a total of 11 years, over three periods between 1996 and 2017, successfully implemented KSAFA’s compulsory age group development programme and intends to extend it to the entire country.

“We have to lift the base of the game back to the club structure. With the club base you are running football all year-round. I am proposing that in every parish you have a structured age group development programme which takes the player from seven through a competitive structure in each of the parishes that provides a natural nursery going forward,” he said.

There has been a constant call for a national football philosophy from all areas of football in the country, including the press, and that is top of the list of things to correct in the technical areas of one of the favourite sports in the country.

With the Reggae Boyz failing to advance to the final round of qualification for the next FIFA World Cup in Russia, the esteemed lawyer has in manifesto a plan for a national programme leading to Qatar in 2022.

With funding a major issue and the decline in corporate sponsorship of the national programme quite evident, Stephenson believes that he and his team have what it takes to get money back into the game in Jamaica.

“We can find a place at every level of football development for each of our private sector leaders to play a role in the development of the game. I believe we provide that kind of trusted leadership, experienced leadership that will attract corporate Jamaica to return in a big way to football.”

He also feels that crucial decisions which affect the running of the game do not get ventilated and executed in a timely manner to the detriment of the sport and it is his intention to change that.

“The federation presently meets every three or so months — not in my mind, prudent enough. All major entities in statutory and corporate Jamaica meet monthly and it is my intention to meet monthly. Monthly board meetings provide for timely decision making. When you wait for three months too many important decisions have to be made necessarily without consensus, and then you get a lot of unhappy persons,” he suggested.

Corporate efficiency is something the KC old boy wants to bring to the federation in order to make it a better-run institution which can then serve the needs of its constituents.

“Governance is a critical part of corporate Jamaica and the mission is to transform the JFF within two years into a corporate-efficient organisation. There is the post of an assistant secretary and I am going to appoint one that will seek to the enforcement of the policies of the federation, the relationship with FIFA, CONCACAF, because the JFF is part of a global international network. That person will very importantly ensure that all the decisions at the board level comply with those of FIFA.”

Stephenson will go up against Clarendon FA President Michael Ricketts for the post of JFF president, with the winning candidate serving out the term left unfinished with the passing of Burrell.