published: Friday | April 27, 2007
Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
A photograph of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, which was on Wednesday prominently displayed on a wall in the foyer of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), is causing concern to members of staff and visitors to the office.
According to some members of staff, they were told that directives were given from the Ministry of Justice for the photograph to be mounted.
But they feel it was not appropriate to have the Prime Minister's photograph on the wall because the DPP's office was a constitutional office and the mounting was sending the wrong signal.
Equal billing
Some staff are of the view that if the powers that be believed it was necessary for the Prime Minister's photograph to be displayed in the foyer, then the photographs of the Governor-General and the Leader of the Opposition should have been displayed also. Attorney at law Wentworth Charles said that it was "inappropriate for the Prime Minister's picture to adorn the walls of the Office of the DPP". Mr. Charles said that the responsibilities, duties and functions of that office should not have had an appearance of being tainted by politics. "It is not only offensive, but it sends the wrong signal of what this office has represented over the years and I hope the appropriate authority will take immediate action to have it removed," he added.