lyonpo sangay ngedup born 1 july 1953 was prime minister of bhutan from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2005 to 2006in dzongkha the title lyonpo means ministersangay ngedup was born in nobgang village in punakha he is the second eldest son in a family of two brothers and five sisters four of his sisters are married to the former king jigme singye wangchuck he graduated from dr grahams homes in kalimpong india and completed his tertiary education at the st stephens college in new delhi india in 1976 he joined the bhutanese foreign service and attended diplomatic courses in australia and new delhiin 1977 lyonpo sangay ngedup served at the permanent mission of bhutan to the united nations in new york and later as second and later first secretary in the royal bhutan embassy in new delhi in 1989 lyonpo sangay ngedup was appointed as ambassador to kuwaithe was transferred as the director of trade and industry in 1989 and then as the joint secretary of the planning commission in april 1991 he became the director general of health in 1992 in 1998 he became minister of health and education and he served as prime minister from july 9 1999 until july 20 2000 he was minister of agriculture from 2003 to 2007 and on september 5 2005 was appointed as prime minister again serving until september 7 2006 in july 2007 he resigned from the government together with prime minister lyonpo khandu wangchuk and five other ministers to enter politics and prepare for the countrys first ever democratic election in 2008 lyonpo sangay ngedup whose demonstrated leadership style is democratic was unanimously elected as president and leader of the newly constituted peoples democratic partyin his presidential debate the first ever held in february 2008 lyonpo sangay ngedup has promised that if he wins the election he would base his policies of governing on gross national happiness gnh a philosophy coined by the fourth king jigme singye wangchuck that states that happiness is more important than material growth for the peoplehe led his party during the election held on march 24 2008 but lost in his own constituency the peoples democratic party took only two seats of a possible 47 in the national assemblylyonpo sangay ngedup was awarded the red scarf by his majesty the king on august 24 1987 and the orange scarf on january 1 1998in 2002 he undertook with six other members the move for health walk from trashigang to the capital city of thimphu covering on foot a distance of 560 km concluded successfully as scheduled the walk was conceived by lyonpo sangay ngedup to promote the fund raising for the bhutan health trust fund an important initiative to keep the primary health services of bhutan free of chargelyonpo sangay ngedup is the honorary president of the bhutan scouts association