Rawlings rapes Castle car pool

(The Statesman) -- After incessant pressure to return vehicles he had illegally driven away from the Castle car pool, former President Rawlings has returned some of them, but without their batteries.

The former President has close to 20 state vehicles at his disposal, all of them liberally drawing fuel from the Castle fuel dump. This, notwithstanding the fact that he is entitled, under the Greenstreet report, to only “one chauffeur-driven car and free fuel.”

Taking away the newest and choicest of the vehicles into private life had robbed the Castle pool of much needed security and other fleet, including the very expensive bulletproof Chevrolet wagon and its decoy.

Persistent calls on him to return the vehicles yielded a limited response when drivers from his “Jacuzzi junction” residence drove seven of the vehicles into the Castle last Tuesday.

The bizarre aspect of all, according to Castle sources, was that the vehicles were started at Rawlings house after which their batteries were removed. They all, therefore, arrived at the Castle and went dead because they could not be restarted. The rest of the over one dozen vehicles are still Rawlings’ custody.

Meanwhile, former Vice-President Atta Mills, who according to the Greenstreet report, is not entitled to “one chauffeur-driven and free fuel” car, still has custody of six vehicles, including two buses, all of which draw free fuel from the Castle fuel dump.