For­mer chair­man of the Peo­ple's Na­tion­al Move­ment Dr Lenny Saith says Ken Val­ley was "a true pa­tri­ot who will be missed by the en­tire coun­try." Val­ley died at his home at 3.30 yes­ter­day morn­ing af­ter a bat­tle with can­cer. Saith said Val­ley served as his cam­paign man­ag­er for the post of par­ty chair­man fol­low­ing the par­ty's first elec­tion de­feat in 1986. Val­ley served pre­vi­ous­ly as ad­vis­er to for­mer Prime Min­is­ter George Cham­bers. He was ap­point­ed an Op­po­si­tion sen­a­tor in 1986.

Val­ley lat­er served as Min­is­ter of Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment and Trade and In­dus­try. He al­so served as Min­is­ter in the Fi­nance Min­istry in suc­ces­sive PNM ad­min­is­tra­tions. "We worked very close­ly since that elec­tion de­feat in 1986. Val­ley was a very hard work­er who was com­mit­ted to T&T," Saith added. He said Val­ley "had strong views, which he fought hard to de­fend." He said Val­ley was well re­spect­ed by the Trinidad and To­ba­go Man­u­fac­tur­ers As­so­ci­a­tion (TTMA) and the T&T Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce. "Val­ley was a true pa­tri­ot and the coun­try would miss him," Saith added.