Anderson slate planning long fight

RAYMOND ANDERSON, vice-president of the Jamaica Football Association (JFF), and presidential hopeful, up against incumbent Michael Ricketts, is depending on documents of association, a video clip, and presidents of those associations as evidence of an alleged plot to thwart the fairness of elections in January.

On Friday, the Raymond Anderson-led Real Solid Action (RSA) campaign team revealed to the media, their belief, that the JFF administration was incorporating companies to replace stakeholders in the voting process.

A new JFF constitution will be followed during this election with 56 votes allotted across three tiers, whereas a previous iteration only consisted of 12 votes from the parish presidents.

The new constitution was to have ushered in a more equitable election process, allowing for the higher chance of challenges to the existing status quo, which could arguably be voting themselves into power every election period.

But according, to the RSA, the fairness the new constitution was intended to create is being eroded and he, along with his team, sought to bring evidence of that erosion during a press conference at the Liguanea Club yesterday.

During the presser, the RSA, which had already indicated that it had appealed to the Electoral Committee, said the matter would not end even if the results proved unfavourable.

One of those 56 votes, the RSA explains, should belong to the Jamaica Football Referees Association.

However, that body, the RSA contends, has not been approved as a voting member despite fulfilling all constitutional requirements.

Another organisation, Beach Soccer Jamaica, was also slated to have been a member of the 56, but the Pat Garel-led organisation has since been replaced with Beach Football Ltd.

According to the RSA, there are questions surrounding the formation of that body, with a director, Omar Stennett, alleged to have said in a video he is not a member of the organisation.

The JFF has since refuted the video, showing a letter that refutes the legitimacy of the video and bears Stennett’s signature.

“The Stennett we saw on a video is now saying in an email that it is not him,” said Anderson.

“So I asked the gen sec (Dennis Chung) to clear up the information and he never had a copy of the clipping from Stennett, but he had a copy of the email,” said Anderson, questioning why Chung would have the letter refuting the video but not the video.

In addition, Garel is questioning the authority to replace the body she leads.

“On the 24th of September we were mandated to send three observers. We did with Andrew Price, John Isaacs and Andre McKenzie.

“We were told we needed to comply by having a registered company, which we registered on the 18th and send in our membership application, as required, on the 19th to the JFF.

“We thought we would have gotten an acknowledgement letter. We wrote to the gen sec asking for ratification of the information because we thought we couldn’t go to the congress on the 24th unless they ratified this,” said Garel.

She said they wrote again on October 30 and was told they were giving others time, who were not as compliant.

“On the 7th of November we heard in the media that there was consideration for another beach entity with the primary directors being Bruce Gaynor, Patrick Malcolm and Stennett.

“We are disappointed but not surprised. But having written to the Electoral Committee with evidence, I am prepared to go all the way,” she said.

According to the RSA, the newly formed Jamaica Coaches Association (JCA), which will also have a vote, is also questionable.

Carvel Stewart, a member of the RSA, argues that the JCA, led by technical committee head, Rudolph Speid, is an attempt to disenfranchise the Vin Blaine-led Jamaica Football Coaches Association.

“Some groups are already registered and presented a checklist. In the checklist they acknowledged that the Jamaica Coaches Association had submitted their legal documents and certification of incorporation.

“They did not select the longstanding Jamaica Football Coaches Association, they selected a body that they said had legal status and a certificate of incorporation. But we had a letter from the registrar, which said they had neither,” said Stewart.