House Clerk Valrie Curtis to retire
KINGSTON, Jamaica – House Clerk Valrie Curtis is to proceed on retirement effective April 6, ending her decades-long parliamentary career.
In a short statement announcing Curtis’ departure, the Houses of Parliament said Curtis will proceed on retirement “having reached the age of retirement in April 2021, and having been granted an extension for an additional two years to expire upon reaching the age of 67 years.”
The announcement comes just over a week after Curtis was publicly reprimanded in a letter by House Speaker Juliet Holness for failing to comply with the ruling of the Speaker on the tabling of reports.
The House Speaker had ruled in November last year that reports from the Auditor General’s Department (AGD) on public bodies would be tabled in keeping with Section 30 of the Financial Administration and Audit (FAA) Act.
The Speaker’s letter was in relation to the two special audit reports of the Financial Services Commission and Tax Administration Jamaica the AGD had sent to Parliament on December 28, 2023 and January 29 this year, which the Speaker said were received in breach of the ruling she made in the House of Representatives on November 7, 2023.
Curtis, who served as the long time deputy to former clerk Heather Cooke, was appointed House clerk July 2021.
A statement at the time from Gordon House noted that Curtis began her parliamentary career as assistant clerk in 1995.
She was appointed deputy clerk in 2006 and served as acting clerk since October 2020 when Cooke took leave of absence.
Curtis was conferred with the Badge of Honour for Meritorious Service and the Order of Distinction (Commander Class) for her service to the Houses of Parliament of Jamaica in 2014 and 2020 respectively.
