Prez Mills still around?

More than 40 days after his death, and assumption of office of a new president, the portraits of the late President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, still hang in many offices and public buildings across the country.

Also draping most buildings are the red and black strips of cloth used to decorate them during the mourning.

When the reporter visited some of the offices in the ministries and departments, as well as public places, portraits of the late President were founding hanging on the walls.

Many of the occupants of the offices said they were not in a hurry to take off the portraits, while some asked when the portraits of the new President, John Mahama, would be given out to replace that of the late President.

A receptionist in one of the offices, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she had not been asked to remove the portrait, therefore, she could not do so on her own.

She conjectured that those in authority were reluctant to order for the removal of the portraits lest their action might be misconstrued as lack of respect for the former President.

However, at the Ministry of Defense, The Times witnessed an attendant removing the portrait of the former President at the gallery which holds the portrait of former leaders of Ghana.

The attendant explained to The Times that since the tenure of the late President had ended, they were going to inscribe the end of the tenure date under the portrait and put it back.

She explained that the portrait of President Mahama which would indicate the day he was sworn-in, would then be placed next to that of the late President.

When the Times contacted the Ministry of Information who are in-charge of distributing presidential portrait, the Director, Mr. Adiniyra said the ministry would soon be receiving John Mahama's portrait from the printing company which had been contracted to do the job.

He said possibly, by this week, the portraits would be available for the ministries, departments and all government agencies for their offices.

Mr. Adiniyra said the portraits were not for free, but would be sold at a price of GH?160 for bigger frames and GH?120 for the smaller ones.