Leadership
THE HONORABLE MINISTER
Honourable Sanyang is a Barrister and Law graduate of the University of The Gambia. He brings over three decades of distinguished service in The Gambia Police Force, having risen through the ranks to serve as Inspector General of Police (IGP), Deputy IGP, and Commissioner of Administration. His career has encompassed all facets of law enforcement, from frontline operations to peace support and public relations. He is bilingual in English and French. In 2022, he received the West African Golden Star Award from Africa Security Watch for outstanding leadership, the first sitting IGP to receive this honour.
THE PERMANENT SECRETARY
Mr. Nyang is the Chief Policy Adviser to the Minister and the Accounting Officer of the Ministry. He holds an MSc in Management of Information Technology from Coventry University (UK) and is a Dong Fang Scholar in Leadership and Governance from Peking University (China). With over 13 years of senior public sector experience, he previously served as Permanent Secretary and Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Office of the President, where he led the Presidency’s digital transformation and ICT infrastructure modernization. He also served as Director of ICT at the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. Mr. Nyang served as The Gambia’s Focal Point for the ITU, UN Internet Governance Forum, and the Digital Cooperation Organisation (DCO), and sits on the boards of GICTA, DLEAG, FIU and the Gambia Commission for Refugees.
DEPUTY PERMANENT SECRETARY (ADMIN &FINANCE)
Mr. Sanyang is a seasoned civil servant with over two decades of leadership across The Gambia’s public service. Prior to joining the Ministry of Interior, he held senior Deputy Permanent Secretary roles at the Ministry of Higher Education, the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of Trade. He holds postgraduate qualifications in Public Administration from South Bank University (UK). His current focus includes strengthening border security units, driving inter-agency collaboration, and overseeing the Ministry’s administrative and financial governance. He also serves as Board Chairperson of the Medicine Control Agency (MCA).
DEPUTY PERMANENT SECRETARY (TECHNICAL)
Mr. Jatta is a senior security strategist and institutional reform expert with a distinguished career spanning immigration, intelligence, and national security coordination. He has held command and policy roles across the Gambia Immigration Department (GID), the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), and the Office of National Security (ONS), where he was a principal architect of The Gambia’s Security Sector Reform (SSR) framework and the decentralization of regional security coordination.
A graduate of the University of Derby (UK) with a Master of Arts in Management, Mr. Jatta brings international training from Ghana’s Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI) and The Gambia’s MDI. At the Ministry of Interior, he drives three strategic pillars: advancing technology-led Integrated Border Management (including the MIDAS biometric system), leading transnational cooperation under ECOWAS security protocols, and professionalizing the internal security workforce through targeted leadership and ethics development.
His guiding philosophy-“Security Sector Reform is not an event; it is a journey” reflects his long-term approach to building resilient, accountable, and capable security institutions across The Gambia.
