By now many of you will have heard the news that I will be resigning from the role of Commissioner General, effective Tuesday, 9 December 2025. I know this announcement has landed with a mix of surprise, sadness, and uncertainty. It was not the farewell timing I had imagined for myself or for you. But leadership has its seasons, and sometimes it leads us into passages we did not foresee. Today, I want to speak to you from a place of clarity, sincerity, and respect.
I also want to apologise for the sequence in which these events unfolded. Circumstances moved quickly, and the media received the announcement before I could sit with all of you and share this personally. Please accept my heartfelt apology for that.
Why I Am Leaving
For more than a year, Treasury has been developing the concept of an external IRC Board. Throughout this period, we have expressed deep, carefully considered concerns about the Board’s proposed design, structure, and scope. These were not personal objections; they were grounded in experience, evidence, and in the hard-earned lessons of our transformation.
In my professional view, the model that has now been passed has significant potential to weaken the IRC’s operational independence and undermine the monocratic leadership model that has enabled our success. I believed it could risk slowing or reversing key reforms and disrupt the stability required for a performance-driven institution.
I did not hold these concerns quietly. I made extensive written submissions, proposed alternative designs, and engaged in respectful dialogue at the highest levels. Earlier this year, I informed both the Prime Minister and the Treasurer—honestly, respectfully, and without theatrics—that if this Board structure was enacted in its proposed form, I would step down.
That moment is now here.
The law has passed.
And I must honour my word.
You deserve nothing less than the truth told directly from me. But please keep that truth within the corners of this organization.
What We Have Built Together
When I arrived at the IRC in 2019, I came with no prior technical experience in tax administration. Yet I came with a conviction: that our tax administration could not remain as it was. It needed transformation—deep, structural, cultural transformation—not token changes or cosmetic adjustments.
Together, we imagined an IRC that was modern, digital, data-driven, disciplined, fair, feared where necessary, trusted where it matters, and respected as a pillar of national governance. We set up a clear vision to become a robust, modern and efficient tax administration that has all systems flowing, all processes flowing and all people flowing in synergy.
Together, we built that reality.
We survived the global Covid-19 pandemic and protected revenue when the world stood still.
We recovered from a major cyber-attack that threatened our operational backbone.
We remained professional amid political pressures and shifting national priorities.
We modernised systems and governance frameworks.
We strengthened discipline, accountability, and internal integrity.
We restored public trust in the IRC brand and its enforcement reputation.
And most strikingly, we grew revenue from K8 billion to over K17 billion, contributing over K80 billion to the Treasury during my term.
This was not the result of one leader or one team. It was the result of you—your long nights, your dedication, your belief, your persistence in the face of doubt, and your willingness to aim higher than yesterday.
Many of you have walked closely with me. You have seen my passion, my urgency, my strengths, and yes—my imperfections. I am as human as any of you. Where I was weak, you strengthened the load. Where I missed pieces, you filled the gaps. Where I had blind spots, you brought clarity. Our success was born from this complementarity.
The Legacy of Vision
I step aside with one lingering regret: I did not get to witness IRC reach its optimal performance—where systems flow seamlessly, people operate at full confidence, and processes run like a well-tuned engine. I also regret that I’m leaving at such a critical moment—at the cusp of the ITAS and GMS rollout, Tax Intelligence capacity is fully built and realised, and the implementation of the new Income Tax Act and Tax Administration Act. I also regret that I have not had the chance to take possession of the land we purchased and each of you were given a piece of real estate, which was my dream.
But leadership is rarely about finishing everything with your own hands. More often, it is about laying foundations that others will strengthen, frame, and elevate. Scripture reminds us that David received the vision of the temple, but it was Solomon who built it. Moses saw the Promised Land, but it was Joshua who led the people to enter it.
Each had a season. Each had an assignment.
Just as Walt Disney envisioned Disneyland, drew its early designs, and rallied the support—yet passed away before he could walk through its gates. On opening day, when a journalist said, “It’s a pity Walt didn’t live to see this,” his brother replied,
“He did see it—that is why it is here.”
Visionaries do not always cut the ribbon. Sometimes, the truest measure of vision is that it can be carried forward by others.
I believe in the next generation of leaders within this organisation. I believe one of you will become the Solomon or the Joshua who completes what we began.
I cannot predict what the next Commissioner General will do. He or she may accelerate reforms, adjust them, or steer a new course. That is normal. What matters is not loyalty to any single leader—but loyalty to the mission, the law, and the institution. Institutions must outlive all of us.
To Our Team in the Corporate Services Wing
You are the backbone of the modern tax administration.
Your work in ICT, HR, Finance, Admin, Legal, and corporate functions has allowed transformation to take root. Long after speeches fade and leadership changes, systems remain. They are your legacy. Keep strengthening them, simplifying them, and innovating through them.
To Our Team in the Taxation Wing
If there is one principle that must continue long after my departure, it is this:
“Tax Right, Not Tax More.”
Taxation is an extraordinary power—one that reaches into private labour and transfers a portion to the public purse, justified only because Parliament authorises it. Without law, it would be theft. Without fairness, it becomes oppression.
So I urge you:
Be firm where the law is firm.
Be fair where judgment is required.
Be disciplined under pressure.
Be courageous even when unpopular.
This is how you ensure that IRC remains feared by evaders and respected by the nation.
To our new recruits—I regret not having met all of you personally, but you are entering an organisation with a strong direction and a meaningful mission.
Handing Over
I will return tomorrow to complete my formal exit. I will return all IRC properties and clean out my desk. After Tuesday, this account will go silent and my tenure will come to its formal close.
My Next Chapter
As many of you have seen, by coincidence—or perhaps divine design—the Writs for the Dei By-Election have been issued at this very moment. At the press conference I said I am not running away from anything, but rather running into something. Today, I am in Hagen, and will be sitting with my people this morning, listening to their counsel, and gather their views on whether I should contest the by-election. This is not a personal ambition—it is a step taken openly, humbly, and with purpose.
Let me leave you with an image that captures the humility and the frustration of public administration:
In the weaving of a nation, the law is the needle and we are the rope.
The law, like the needle, pierces the fabric first—it chooses the direction, sets the pattern, and draws the line.
We, like the rope, follow the path already cut—faithfully, professionally, even when the shape being woven is not the one we believe the nation needs.
At times in this role, we have been tasked to administer laws we knew were flawed, outdated, or misaligned with the reality on the ground. We carried them out with discipline—because our authority comes from the law, not from personal preference. But that is the limitation of being an administrator: we implement patterns drawn by others, even when we can see that the pattern is crooked.
Yet beyond implementation lies a higher calling—policy making.
That is where the pattern is first imagined, drawn, and stitched into law. That is where the needle begins its journey.
If the next chapter leads me to Parliament, it is so that our fight for fairness does not end at implementation. It is so that we can help shape the pattern itself—to contribute to better policy, better laws, and a fairer system for this country, rather than merely administering laws we did not design.
We have shown what disciplined administration can achieve.
Now we must also fight for the quality of the law itself—so that future administrators are not bound to enforce patterns that limit our nation’s potential.
Closing
This is not a goodbye; it is a transition, I hope. A turning of seasons.
Whether the next steps take me into Parliament or somewhere entirely different, my gratitude to you remains unchanging.
Thank you for trusting me.
Thank you for challenging me.
Thank you for walking this path with me.
Thank you for making these years meaningful beyond words.
I wish each of you a peaceful and blessed Christmas.
May God guide your steps, protect your work, and continue shaping IRC into a national institution defined by integrity, fairness, and excellence.
Yours in Making the Difference,
SAM KOIM, OBE
Your soon to be former CG
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