Valerie Sackey to be buried January 30

A former Director of the Public Affairs Secretariat at the Office the President of Ghana from 1992 to 2001, Valerie Anne Sackey, who passed away on December 31, 2023, aged 88, will be buried on Tuesday, January 30.

The burial service and funeral rites will take place at the Lashibi Funeral Home.

The family of the late Mrs Sackey, who served former President Jerry John Rawlings in both the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) administrations, announced this when a delegation called on former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, at her residence yesterday.

The family delegation led by Nana Opoku Acheampong informed Mrs Rawlings about the passing of Mrs Sackey who was the Director of the Castle Information Bureau during the PNDC era from 1982 to 1992 and went on to head the Public Affairs Secretariat at the office of President Rawlings under the NDC from 1992 to 2001.

Present at the meeting were a former Minister of Information and Member of Parliament Fritz Baffour, daughter of Mrs Sackey, Anne Sackey, as well as the Agyeman-Rawlingses namely the MP for Korle Klottey Constituency, Zanetor, Yaa Asantewaa and Kimathi.

Principled

Extending her condolences to the family, Mrs Rawlings described the late Mrs Sackey as a woman with a fortitude of strength and one who was a stickler for orderliness.

She credited the former director for ensuring that former President Rawlings was guided in the right direction even if it earned her some dislike sometimes.

“She was principled and always ensured that the right thing was done, even if most people disagreed with her,” she stated.

Born in Accrington in the United Kingdom in 1935 to Valentine Lindoe, then Principal of the Accrington College of Art and Nancy Lindoe, Mrs Sackey (nee Valerie Anne Lindoe) had her education in the United Kingdom.

She met and married Horace Walter Kofi Sackey at the London School of Economics and Political Science where they were both studying, and came to Ghana three days after independence in March, 1957.

On arrival in Ghana, she taught Geography at the Opoku Ware Secondary School and later joined the Department of Game and Wildlife and was posted to the Kumasi Zoo.

When her husband was appointed a Minister of State in the Progress Party government led by Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia in 1969, she moved to Accra and continued to work with the Department of Game and Wildlife.

She returned to Kumasi in 1972 on transfer and later went on to teach at the St. Louis Secondary School in Kumasi.

After a number of interactions with Mrs Sackey, then Chairman Rawlings extended an invitation to her to join his personal office staff and take charge of his speeches, interviews with local and foreign media and official press statements.

She is survived by her children; Michael Sackey (London) Joseph Sackey (Los Angeles) and Ann Asantewaa Sackey (Accra).