Modeste Mopa shines like a star!

When the name Modeste Mopa Fatoing is mentioned, it is easily one of the most distinguished figures in the finance sector in Cameroon today.

In a sector repleted with inspiring and multitalented personalities, it requires wisdom and foresight for one to single out himself the way Mopa Fatoing does.

Nature certainly blessed this 40-year-old Director-General of Taxation (DGI) with uncommon intelligence and amazing leadership qualities. However, there is no doubt that he worked hard – extremely hard – to get to where he is today.

And given his extraordinary zest for breaking new grounds, the position of DGI may only be a stepping stone.

Born on 15th March, 1975 in Guidiguis, Mopa Modeste exhibited the kind of excellence in his youth that gave credence to the philosophical saying that “the child is the father of the man.”

After obtaining his Baccalauréat at Lycée de Kaélé in 1993, and his ‘Licence’ in Private Law at the University of Douala in 1996, he sat and passed the entrance examination into the administrative division – taxation option – of the prestigious National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM) barely one year later.

And at the end of the two-year course, he emerged as the best overall student of his batch! The same year, Modeste obtained his “Maîtrise” in Business Law at the University of Yaounde II in Soa, a course he was doing simultaneously with his training at ENAM.

To many young Cameroonians, ENAM could have been the end. But to this illustrious son of the Far North region, that institution was more of a springboard.

He later passed the highly competitive entrance examination into the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) of Paris, France where he earned a professional Master’s degree in Public Administration in 2007.

But that was not before he worked for the Taxation Headquarters in Yaounde and occupied different positions amongst which was Head of the Legislation Division.

The workaholic and competent administrator equally provided his services at the Mfoundi Regional Tax Centre in Omnisport, Yaounde. On account of his exemplary performance within a very short time, the former minister of Finance, Essimi Menye, addressed an official letter of congratulation to him.

Mopa Modeste’s efforts were not only recognized by Cameroonian authorities. News of his competence spread like wild fire in the harmattan across Africa and even beyond. No wonder he was later appointed to work for the Regional Centre for Technical Assistance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Abidjan. (Owing to the political instability in Côte d’Ivoire at the time, the Centre was moved to Bamako, Mali).

This institution, it should be noted, ensures the reinforcement of the macroeconomic and financial capacities of West African states, including Guinea and Mauritania. Here again, Mopa Modeste demonstrated his administrative savoir-faire as well as his acumen in the management of fiscal matters.

Cameroon missed him so much. But his superiors in Yaounde decided that they would miss him no more. And so, on Friday, 14th June 2013 he was appointed Director-General of Taxes – an appointment which all those who know of what stuff Mopa is made described as truly merited.

If the tax sector in Cameroon is making great strides today, it is thanks to the administrative and managerial ingenuity of Mopa Modeste. The young DG in barely less than a year in office beat the budgetary target set for the taxation department by government in 2013.

He stunned observers yet again when he repeated the feat in 2014, and this despite the nefarious effects of the Boko Haram insurgency on the national economy.

That is why it behooves this newspaper to extol Modeste Mopa Fatoing, and wish him more wisdom, vision and commission in the performance of his ardous but exalting duties.

But we at once remind him of the urgent need to transform the taxation department into a more user-friendly administration.

It takes wisdom and genius to do this, and Mopa Fatoing is not lacking in any.