Saga of missing Rawlings' cars

(Public Agenda) -- Another scene in the drama of the 21 cars ex-President Jerry Rawlings was alleged to have taken from the Castle opened before a bemused Kwadwo Mpiani, Chief of Staff at the Castle on Friday, when he received a memorandum from his Director of Transport complaining that five of the cars could not be traced.

According to Public Agenda sources at the Government House, the Director of Transport recommended the involvement of the Bureau of National Investigation and the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police to trace the vehicles, which “were thought to be the ex-President.” The missing vehicles were listed as two Toyota cars, a Toyota Cressida, and two Opel cars.

The memorandum, according to Public Agenda sources, also recommended a thorough check at the Vehicle Examination and Licensing Department (VELD) to establish the ownership of two other vehicles which are suspected to have been re-registered. They are Proton Saloon Cars.

Last week, following media revelation on the number of cars the ex-President took away, seven were returned by ex-Warrant Officer Patrick Kuntor, Jerry Rawlings’ bodyguard, who was at the centre of a stage managed armed robbery attack, which informed the former junta head to abandon an international conference in Botswana late last year. According to the Director of Transport’s memorandum, a check with Kuntor could not determine the whereabouts of the five cars listed above, hence the recommendation to involve the Police in tracing them.

The Director of Transport was said to have listed Toyota vehicle number GR 5876C as also missing. The car was formerly used by the late RSM Tetteh, a former bodyguard of Rawlings, when he was Head of State. A recommendation from the Transport Director urges the Chief of Staff to help trace the vehicle.

The memo, according to the Agenda sources, listed Toyota Pick-up number GW1181Q as being in the custody of Ex-WO1 Kuntor as a gift from Rawlings. The Transport Director recommended immediate action to retrieve it. A letter from the Office of the ex-President’s to the Chief of Staff delivered by Kuntor said: Please take note that the Toyota Pick-up with registration number GW1181Q was assigned to Warrant Officer Kuntor by the transitional team.”

Officials at the Castle deny this claim. “The transitional team did not give out any cars, a furious Castle spokesperson told this reporter.

Meanwhile the Transport Director’s memo spoke of a Peugeot 205 Caravan, which was sold to Warrant Officer Mensah, years ago. It also hinted of an ISUZU Trooper, which is being used by the ex-President’s Mother, Madam Agbotui, but it is not known whether or not it belongs to the state.

According to the Transport Director, most of the vehicles returned were not in very good shape and that an inspection on a VW Transporter with registration number GR6822Q showed that it had been cannibalized at its return to the Castle pool. The vehicle had lost a radio/tape player, fan belt, power steering pump, crankshaft pulley and idler bearing. Its fuel tank and oil filters were partially loose, an indication that they had been tampered with. The front and rear brake pads were worn out while the jack, wheel spanner, and spare tyres were deficient.

A source told the Agenda that the Transitional Team did not allocate all those cars to the ex-President. They just vanished from the Castle pool when Rawlings left the Castle as Constitutional President of Ghana.