Fact-checking Paul Williams’s claims of political victimhood
Dear Editor,
Retired Deputy Police Commissioner (GPF) Paul Williams’s claims that the PPP/C Administration blocked him from becoming Police Commissioner fall apart under scrutiny.
While Aubrey Norton cheered him on at an APNU meeting in Melanie Damishana on Sunday, Williams, whose tenure in the GPF was marked by inaction, accused the PPP/C Administration of sending him on administrative leave in 2020 to prevent him from being appointed Police Commissioner.
The truth is less glamorous than Williams’s political spin. He was not bypassed for promotion, nor could he have been in the running for Commissioner, because Nigel Hoppie was already acting in that capacity and continued to do so despite the change in Government.
In reality, Williams had 192 days of accumulated annual vacation leave to take. Officially described as the utilisation of accumulated entitlements, the force instructed him to take the days or lose them. It was a standard policy. And now Williams falsely accuses President Irfaan Ali of “side-lining” him because he would not be “a candidate for wickedness and corruption.”
In reality, it was former President David Granger who would have passed over Williams, not once, but twice, for the role of Commissioner, despite his now-touted “qualifications, integrity and competencies.”
In August 2018, Granger appointed Leslie James as Police Commissioner. Williams was among several senior officers interviewed by Granger for the Commissioner role, but he was an unsuccessful candidate.
After James proceeded on leave in 2020, Nigel Hoppie was assigned as Commissioner of Police by Granger, although not according to the constitutionally mandated process. Williams could not have been appointed Commissioner while Hoppie was acting in that role. Appointments rely on a presidential decision and the completion of lawful processes, including consultations as required by Guyana’s Constitution.
Those who know Williams well said that he touts his horn as an achiever, but nothing distinguishes his tenure with the force, although he was the GPF’s training officer, Crime Chief and then Deputy Commissioner. “There is not a single initiative that Williams can be credited with during his time in multiple roles with the force,” said someone with inside knowledge of the GPF who asked that his name be withheld.
Norton elevated Williams on APNU’s platform to play the part of a victim who has been racially discriminated against by the PPP/C Administration. Williams claims the Government has “destroyed every fabric” of police force culture and camaraderie. The evidence proves otherwise.
Williams’s narrative of victimhood is less about truth and more about realising his long-held political ambitions, using grievance as a ladder where merit as a police officer has failed him.
