By: Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Thursday 15th November 2018)-Labelled a “high risk threat to national security”, a well-known protestor and social media commentator, Curtis Crooke, has lost work access to his job as a ramp attendant attached to an airline management company at the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport.
The question being asked by this 46-year-old father of three, who had been working in that position for 20 years is: “Where is the evidence that I am a threat to national security?”
This week, during a sit-down interview with this reporter, Crooke explained what happened on the day he learnt about the allegation made against him.
Although he is known to be quite vocal on political issues and other topics as a supporter of the opposition St.Kitts-Nevis Labour Party, Crooke-who does not have a police record- says he has been very professional at his workplace over the years.
“While I’m at work, I am a completely different person compared to when I am on the street protesting and everybody could attest to that. I have never had any incident with any passenger or security personnel. I do my work and if I see something wrong then I would say something. My work attitude and performance at the airport is second to none; anybody could tell you that. Whether it’s PAM or Unity I am very helpful to everybody. I am very patriotic when it comes to my country. If I see something that looks wrong on the airport I would tell somebody so it’s nothing to do with work that I have been fired because I am very professional.”
According to him: “On Tuesday night [13th November], I got a call from the airline management asking for a meeting. When I went to the meeting the next day (Wednesday), I was informed by the lady there of a letter from SCASPA [St. Christopher Air & Sea Ports Authority] that my ID has been revoked with immediate effect.”
Having received such information, the matter was taken to the human resource department of the management company whereby he found out that “the letter says that I am a threat to national security and that there are complaints by security officers about my behaviour.”
“I told the HR department that the letter is wrong. Where is the evidence that I am a threat to national security? Clearly, they are after me!”
In a meeting with airline management, Crooke indicated that he challenged the grounds for his termination by expressing that he “ found it strange” that just recently he was issued a valid ID which expires next year.
Crooke shared that the ID revoked this week was issued on 30th September 2018 with a one-year span expiry date of 30th September 2019.
He went on to say that he underwent the necessary training and fulfilled all other requirements including obtaining a police record document in order to be issued a valid work ID.
Commenting on why he thinks he has been fired, he had this to say about the Team Unity government led by Dr. Timothy Harris: “It’s victimisation. I protest. I write on Facebook and once you protest against Timothy, the dictator you can’t do that. You don’t dare talk against the Prime Minister, you don’t dare write anything on Facebook. They need to prove to me where I am a high risk to national security.”
Asked if he expected that one he would find himself in a situation like this, he said: “To be honest with you, with Timothy, I expect anything. The sad thing is that I have seen it happen to older folks in my community but I will certainly stand for the children of tomorrow because they have to have a voice. If we don’t exercise our democratic rights to stand up to politicians now, our children would be in big trouble and so they need to have a voice regardless of whatever political party they support.”
In observation of his unemployment status, Crooked remarked: “How am I going to eat? I have my house to pay for, I have my bills and other things to do.”
For now, Crooke’s matter is in the hands of his lawyer as he waits to see what is the next step.
In relation to his protest activity, however, “the protests will be coming up and more so on a regular basis because of my situation. The world needs to hear my story!”