He was a regionalist, an advocate of local economic development and a firm believer in participatory democracy. These are just some of the ways in which the life of economist Dennis Pantin is being described.
Pantin, 61, died of cancer at his home in Maracas, St Joseph, on Tuesday. Dr Ralph Henry, past UWI lecturer and chairman of Kairi Consultants Ltd, called Pantin's passing a "tremendous loss." He recalled their early days and their involvement in Lloyd Best's Tapia House Movement and the formation of Pantin's economic and political ideas during that era. "We were members of the Tapia Movement, which created independent-minded people, although it led to conflicts within that group at the time. "You never saw him in a jacket and tie. Yet, there are people who believe that if you're not dressed like, that you are not properly clad. He believed in independent thought, like Lloyd Best," he said.
Henry said Pantin was one who believed in building an Caribbean economic model that was independent of the "North Atlantic" model.
"He believed in a sustainable development of our societies. He wanted us to live in peace and comfort. He was aware of the countless resources that we have as a country and our ability to build upon this.
"He was interested in seeing the Caribbean develop an economic model that was our own and not just one imported from foreign." Henry said Pantin was critical of T&T's "mono-crop" society and he believed that T&T needed to expand to other areas from one dominant revenue-earning commodity. "After all these decades of independence, we are still a mono-crop society, just like the other Caribbean islands which depend on tourism," he said.
He said Pantin's work on the Constitutional Reform Committee was an example in his belief in "People Power. You have political parties today in the region and the country who are bereft of an ideology or philosophy. He was against that. He wanted to see people power and them taking their destiny into their hands," he said. He described Pantin as "Regionalist" who wanted to see Caribbean unity and a common economic, political and cultural identity. "He would have been saddened by some of the actions and words that we have seen out of Caricom leaders at recent meetings. He did not want that, he wanted unity," Henry said
Distribution of power
Dr Ronald Ramkissoon, senior economist, Republic Bank, said the economics profession will miss Pantin. "His passing is very sad. Our profession will miss him. We would miss him for the pleasant person that he was," he said. "He was down to earth and this translated into his economics. He had a unique way of expressing his ideas, for example, in the context of the distribution of power. He expressed ideas in many fields apart from politics. He had a wide range of ideas that included politics, culture, the weather and economics," he said.
Ramkissoon said Pantin saw the world through the eyes of Caribbean patriot. "He was always well grounded in the reality of T&T and the Caribbean. He spoke of island economics. One has to give him credit for the type of work that he did," he said.