Former Grenada Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell has put in place an elaborate security network around him following his devastating defeat in the July 8 general elections.
Mitchell whose New National Party (NNP) was defeated 11-4 by the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has put at the head of his security detail, the suspended Corporal Frederick "Balla" Noel of the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF).
Noel who is still on half monthly pay as a police officer in light of a pending court matter, often parks up his mini bus to provide private security for the Ex-Prime Minister.
According to a well-placed source, Mitchell has five cars parked at his Happy Hill residence in St. George North-west to make secret trips around the island as part of his security network.
He said that all signs point to Mitchell being pre-occupied with intense security following his defeat at the poll.
The source stated that the former Grenadian leader is fearful for his life to the point of not willing to venture into his own home if Noel does not enter the building first and ensure that it is safe for him to do so.
"The man (Mitchell) is nothing but a coward. Balla has to go into the house, enter the bedroom and make sure that no one is hiding under the bed and other places in the house before he (Mitchell) comes into the house", he said.
A government insider told this newspaper that Mitchell also approached the new administration of Prime Minister Tillman Thomas to seek an increase in salary for his State-paid driver in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition.
He said it was communicated to Mitchell that the driver is paid under a particular government budget and that any increase would have to be borne by himself.
"We had to remind him that that pay was also given in his time as Prime Minister to the driver for the then Leader of the Opposition (Tillman Thomas) and that was the same pay that his driver is entitled to", he remarked.
"If he (Mitchell) wants to see his driver get more money then the onus is on him to give his driver a little more from out of his own pocket. That is not for the State to do. The man (Mitchell) wants the State to pay everything for him", he said.
The source also pointed to a dispute between the ex-PM and the workers at his home including cooks over salaries and monetary entitlement after the general elections.
He said that the State paid the workers a certain sum of money in lieu of notice that their services were being terminated since Mitchell was no longer the Prime Minister of the country.
He spoke of the Ex-PM agreeing to keep the workers on hire but at the end of the month did not want to pay them their salaries.
"When the workers ask him for their money, he (Mitchell) said that he did not owe them anything since the State had already paid them until November. He is totally wrong about it. What the State paid them was not salaries but their entitlement for termination of employment. Once he (Mitchell) decided to keep them on the job, he had to pay them their salaries at the end of each month", he said.
The Ex-PM is reputed to be a millionaire and owns a luxury building with several rented apartment blocks in Brooklyn, New York.
