WESTERN BUREAU – Generation 2000, the young professional arm of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), is undecided as to what its role will be in the campaign for the election of a party leader in November.

President Christopher Tufton said a decision is yet to be made about whether the group would support a particular candidate or serve as facilitator for discussions on the issues that will arise during the campaign.

“We have not yet discussed the campaign and whether or not we will, as an organisation, back a particular candidate or do what we have done traditionally – which is to provide a platform for competing candidates to expose the issues, focus on the issues and by so doing allow Labourites across the country, and the country in general, to form an opinion and to make a determination,” Tufton told the Observer.

The four year-old group has been credited for contributing to the JLP’s success in the 2002 polls that saw the party snagging 27 parliamentary seats. It was the G2K that assisted the party hierarchy in the preparation of the party manifesto, which was published and publicised ahead of that of the governing People’s National Party. Members of the group also helped individual candidates with their campaign.

According to Tufton, G2K members would discuss, and come to a consensus on, their role in the upcoming November elections after the July 18 burial of former JLP leader and prime minister of Jamaica, Hugh Lawson Shearer. Shearer, 81, passed away at his St Andrew home last Monday.

“G2K is going to discuss the issue of the leadership and come with a common position on it. We expect that after the funeral we will probably have some more discussions on what is happening,” he said. “Clearly, the field is not yet fully declared so we are not yet fully sure how many people are running. But we certainly intend to play some role.”

It now appears that the leadership race will be between Pearnel Charles, the JLP’s North Central Clarendon Member of Parliament, and party chairman Bruce Golding.

Established under the presidency of former JLP Senator David Panton in 2000, G2K has attracted the participation of mostly young professionals and university students. The group – which has a membership of close to 3,000 – has, over the years, spoken on issues such as educational reform.

It has also formed what is known as the ACTION team that has been mandated to analyse and communicate the party’s policy to the public.

The group is currently working to expand its membership locally and overseas while it improves on service delivery to its members. Tufton also told the Observer last week that they were making progress in their effort to establish a chapter in New York. The group, he said, also has its sights set on getting chapters started in Florida, England and Canada.