WESTERN BUREAU – Four members of the Jamaica Labour Party’s professional youth arm, Generation 2000, are among those tipped to fill the gap left when David Panton officially resigns from the Senate to take up a job at a financial firm in Atlanta, USA.

They are G2K president, Christopher Tufton; his predecessor, Dr Ronald Robinson; vice-president and caretaker for West Portland, Kenneth Rowe; and Ian Hayles, the G2K vice-president who wants to become the caretaker for North Trelawny.

Last week, Panton told party leader Edward Seaga and his JLP colleagues in the Senate of his plans to migrate; but up to yesterday he had not officially stepped down from the position he has held since October 2002.

Yesterday, Seaga confirmed the move but did not give a timeline for when Panton would officially quit the Senate.

“Based on his decision to be based abroad, Dr Panton advised me that he would be resigning as a Senator,” the JLP leader said in a release in response to reports that Panton is expected to relinquish the post by the end of this week.

Seaga added that Governor General Sir Howard Cooke had not yet indicated that he had received Panton’s resignation.

Hours before the party leaders’ statement, leader of opposition business in the Upper House, Senator Anthony Johnson told the Observer that Panton’s is expected to update the party soon.

“We have been told that he is considering options and it is likely that any minute now he is likely to advise us on what he is doing,” Johnson said.

An Oxford graduate and former Rhodes scholar, Panton was appointed one of the eight senators to the Upper House shortly after the JLP’s defeat at the polls in the October 2002 general elections.

A founding member of the G2K, he was recruited to the Opposition party in 2000, to run for a seat in Central Manchester. However, he withdrew as the party’s candidate almost two years later, citing business commitments.

Among his business interests was Caribbean Equity Partners, in which he was the major shareholder. CEP at one time managed major accounts such as the US$45-million Dennis Lalor-created Caribbean Equity Fund, until September 2003 when Lalor terminated the contract and handed over the fund’s management to Caribbean Basin Investors Ltd.

But despite his business committments, Panton found time to campaign vigorously for the JLP in the run-up to the 2002 elections, particularly in the central region of the island where the party had lost a lot of ground. Many credited the JLP’s improved showing in that section of the country in the last general polls to Panton’s growing political savvy.

Yesterday, Seaga said Panton had made an indelible mark on the political arena in his relatively short period in active politics.

“He made a very strong impression on the people of Mandeville where he was preparing to contest the seat for Parliament,” the JLP leader added.

According to Seaga, Panton was known for his sharp and articulate contributions to debates in the senate and his ready grasp of complex subjects. Johnson described him as a valuable asset.

“Panton is an extraordinary, well-qualified young man who had gone very far, very fast; and to have a man like that on your team is always a tremendous asset,” Johnson said.

Panton, he said, has been involved in a number of investment projects in the Caribbean and had acquired a vast knowledge of the region’s economic and financial environment.

“That kind of a man must be missed,” he said.

While not supplying the names of Panton’s possible successors, Johnson said the JLP would be able to find a suitable replacement to fill the post as it has a lot of competent persons available within the party.