Outgoing taxation boss says laid solid foundation for modern tax administration.

Modeste Mopa who is set to return to the International Monetary Fund, IMF, made the comment in what appears to be a farewell letter addressed to staff of his directorate.

The letter which circulated Friday came a day after a letter signed by the minister of state, secretary general at the Presidency of the Republic, disclosing President Biya’s approval of Mopa Modeste to join the IMF, had gone viral.

Mopa leaves the directorate general of taxes in the coming days, after spending a decade at the helm of the institution.

While at Washington DC, Mopa will head for three years the secretariat of the Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool, TADAT, which is the IMF's tax system.

But before leaving, Mopa last Friday released an emotion-packed letter to staff of the directorate general of taxes, to express his appreciation.

"From the smallest agent...to the senior staff, through the middle management, I would like to tell you here all the pleasure I had working with you during all these years. Together we have achieved a lot. Together we have overcome many obstacles. I leave you with a light heart, convinced that together we have put in place the foundation of a modern tax administration, capable of meeting the aspirations of the authorities and Cameroonian taxpayers, most of whom only aspire to fiscal civility,” partly read the letter.

He, however, noted that “many things certainly remain to be done. But as you know, the broad outlines have already been drawn. The intelligence, available for their implementation and improvement, are not lacking”.

Mopa then advised his now ex-collaborators to "remain a showcase administration of our country by always keeping in mind the virtues of professionalism, humility, probity and especially solidarity”.

"…I will henceforth lead the TADAT secretariat within the International Monetary Fund to contribute to the modernisation of tax administrations. From where I am, I will certainly have to work on files from all over the world. But you can guess that I will be particularly interested in the tax administration of our country. Thus, we could, in different positions, continue to ensure our dear and beautiful Cameroon,” he concluded.

Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool, TADAT, provides a 360-degree diagnostic of the performance of a tax administration using nine performance areas which contain a total of 28 indicators.

The performance assessment are used at the national, system-wide level, to identify the key weaknesses and strengths that are generic to the tax administration as a whole.