Conspiracy Theories

Like everybody, I always find conspiracy theories hard to swallow and view them with great skepticism.

And so back in 2008, after government had changed and Sr. Superintendent Chester Williams was telling the country that he was being set up by other high ranking members of the police department and politicians, it was kinda hard to swallow.  It did seem like a conspiracy theory to me, as I suppose most Belizeans, at the time. It seemed incredulous at the time that senior police officers who had a personal vendetta would be so consumed that they would frame Mr. Williams in the manner they did: getting a fellow police officer to give a statement stating that he witnessed Mr. Williams execute a man who was supposedly on the run. It did seem extraordinary for men who took an oath to maintain law and order, to go to such depths in the quest to jockey for power. Ah mean, that is the stuff that makes for an excellent Alfred Hitchcock suspense movie. We out here were not privy to what Mr. Williams or his lawyers or those police officers and politicians knew. So, as I said, most of us our here thought Mr. Williams’ was fielding a conspiracy theory at the time to save face as disciplinary actions were being taken against him, and he was being suspended. And most of us, naturally, did not believe his version at the time.

But it is said: truth crushed to the earth will one day rise again.

The full hundred in Mr. Williams’ ordeal gradually begun to unfold.

First, there was in May, 2008, the legal opinion of the then Solicitor General, Tanya Herwanger, on the merits (or rather demerits) of Mr. Williams’ case. She professionally and boldly wrote that the case against Mr. Williams was “fatally flawed”.  And more revealing, she wrote that the decision to suspend Chester Williams was “influenced by various interested parties.” These interested parties were listed as UDP Ministers Carlos Perdomo and John Saldivar, as well as the Commissioner of Police and the CEO in the Ministry of the Public Service. The Prime Minister was terribly vexed with the Solicitor General for her candour and  publicly scolded and embarrassed the woman. The Solicitor General’s legal opinion, naturally, had eyes popping open. How could it be that the government handpicked legal expert could be saying that government’s case was flawed, when, in March, 2008, the chilling and surreal allegations were made Chester Williams appeared to be a slum dunk case against him?

Then things really started looking more suspicious when later in December, 2008, the Belize Advisory Council vindicated Williams and ordered him reinstated as a Senior Superintendent. That again had eyes popping out. The case against Chester Williams begun to look indeed like a case of a framed cop as Chester had  put it when the wild allegations first started.

But Tuesday’s revelation by the Commissioner of Police definitely had to floor everyone who has been keeping track of the case. In its newscast on Tuesday, Channel5 ran an interview with Mr. Jefferies wherein the Commissioner of Police admitted that the Police Department has long known that the man Chester Williams is alleged to have killed is alive in the United States. The Commissioner went on to say that Belizean law enforcement officers are coordinating with their US counterparts to see the return of the man  to Belize to face charges against him.

This is an incredulous bit of information. Firstly, if the Police Department has had this information for some time, why have they not released it to the public? I recall they went out of the way to have a media trial of Mr. Williams. And many, if not all of us, bought into the hype. We had all convicted Chester a long time ago. But the more distressing thing about all this though is that Chester Williams was not fielding a conspiracy theory after all. Big man (as they say in the streets) as it now turns out, were indeed plotting and scheming and making very, very serious allegations against an individual, just because ah position.  Which makes me wonder, how many other citizens may not have been rung through the system out of malice, hate and vendetta? If the police could have done it to one of their own who wouldn’t they do it to?

Which finally brings me to this point. Belize City’s Deputy Mayor was on television the other night spouting a proposal to change our system to one in which those accused of crimes are presumed to be guilty and then they have to prove their innocence. He did say that the  idea was not “novel” or engineered by him; that it has been floating around out there. But when you put the Chester Williams’ case into perspective, you quickly realize that such a proposal could only bring more pain and suffering to the nation. Not a lot of our people will have the resources as a Chester Williams to prove what the public will chide as a conspiracy theory.

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