Here was a man who had had eight death sentences handed down to him for his involvement in the 2008 Bartica Massacre and other heinous crimes being casually handled at the maximum security prison at Mazaruni for the inevitable to occur – he made a clean escape on Friday and there has been no further sighting of him.
Even worse, Royden Williams better known as ‘Smallie’ was believed to be the mastermind of the July 9, 2017 jail-break that saw the fiery demolition of the Camp Street prison in Georgetown. He was eventually recaptured on October 9th 2017 at Weldaad while travelling in a mini-bus.
It is clear that Williams is a desperado and prepared to do whatever it takes to be free and to be free to do what he wants. Why then was he handled so incompetently on Friday in flagrant breach of the prison’s Standard Operating Procedures?
It goes without saying that the number one priority for the PPP/C government is to recapture him. If international assistance is required to track him and his accomplices then that must be immediately enlisted. PPP/C governments – particularly on the security front – are notorious for operating like deer in the headlights and being unable to act decisively. This is not the moment for that,
Is Williams on a flight to freedom to escape what would have at least been the rest of his life in prison or is he prepared to engage in gruesome acts such as those that he had been convicted of? That is a question that should occupy the collective grey matter of the administration and they need to come up with a rapid response plan lest the country becomes mired in the fear and actuality of the 2002 jail-break and the unprecedented reign of terror and bloodshed that followed. Williams’ point of disembarkation has presumably been encircled by the Joint Services and there must be stepped up security at all points along the Mazaruni and at key points such as Bartica where Williams had participated in the massacre of February 17, 2008.
There are just two other matters be addressed now: the conspiracy that aided his flight to freedom and accountability.
As planning goes, the plot to free Williams went off smoothly. There was a precision about it, bravado and the weaponry to accompany it. The government has a problem here notwithstanding the supposed efforts of the recently refurbished National Intelligence Security Agency (NISA) which appeared more of a passport for the elevation of the current Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force than anything else. One may not know about the successes of NISA but this escape is one of the giant failures of the period if it was unable to detect what was a significant operation to undermine national security.
There may have been previous attempts to spring Williams but maybe all of the coordinates were not aligned. They were in this case and there were many participants. Who in the prison service at the Mazaruni Prison was approached for an impermissible visit by a woman to Williams? Presumably this prison official is under close arrest and being intensely interrogated. The woman herself will be able to provide significant leads. Then there are the men in the boat which had been commandeered and who were sporting AK-47 and AR-15 rifles. That type of weaponry is associated with high-octane operations redolent of the crime spree years. The government and the police force tend to be clueless in these matters but this type of weaponry signifies that all is not well. There must have been a mastermind with money and the ability to execute this operation. That person was not Williams. There was a plot to free Williams and the authorities must be able to unravel it otherwise there will be problems further down the road.
Aren’t the Mazaruni Prison and the prison service attuned to suspicious movements on the river? Does the prison service have its own river craft to patrol the approaches to the maximum security jail? Surely the movement of the boat on the afternoon of May 18 and 19 should have aroused suspicions.
Williams’ escape has a familiar ring to it. There have been a series of such incidents beginning with the epochal 2002 jail-break which scarred the country in so many ways and has left deep wounds. These incidents continue to occur and undermine national security because the various governments have refused to professionalise the police and prison services and to hold them accountable for these disastrous failings. Even under the APNU+AFC administration, the 2016 Camp Street prison fire where 17 inmates died and the blaze the year after when the entire complex was flattened did not result in the prison service and the Ministry of Home Affairs being held accountable. It is the PPP/C, however, which presided over the aftermath of the 2002 jail-break for 13 years without holding its officials responsible, resulting in death squads running rampant. There must be accountability this time around. It starts at the Director of Prisons, moves up to the Minister of Home Affairs and ultimately the Presidency. In the next few days the people of this country will be able to judge whether the government is capable of addressing this grave security breach and finally lifting the security of the prisons. In the meantime, there should be a swift one-person commission of inquiry into the events of May 19th.
