He was the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from 28 September 2003 to 10 May 2004 and also served as Secretary-General of the Party for Social Renewal (PRS).
[1][2] In March 2001, the PRS wanted Ialá to appoint Sanhá, the Secretary-General of the PRS,[3][4] as Prime Minister to replace N'Tchama,[5] but Ialá resisted this, considering Sanhá too radical;[3] he appointed Faustino Imbali as Prime Minister instead.
In June 2005, during protests by Ialá's supporters alleging fraud in the first round of the presidential election, in which Ialá officially took third place, police fired on the protesters and arrested Sanhá, who was leading the march and was found by police to be carrying a loaded gun.
[11][12] Sanhá was angered by the failure of the PRS to place his name at the top of the party's candidate list for the November 2008 parliamentary election, and he resigned in October 2008.
At a press conference on 21 October, he stated that he could "no longer endure the injustice that prevails within the PRS", arguing that it was "adrift because of some opportunists".