THE National Taxpayers' Association is compiling a report on five of the presidential candidates ahead of the general election. NTA's programme officer Martin Lapisa, said the report will help the voters understand characters of politicians presenting themselves for election to succeed President Kibaki. Lapisa said the report will attempt to offer details of past and current records in different spheres of those seeking to lead the country to enable Kenyans make informed choice at the poll. "We are not sure if we shall be able to launch the report because politicians are already against us," said Lapisa.

He said NTA has been implementing programmes focused on enhancing citizen's demand for accountability and quality service delivery. Lapisa spoke during a stakeholders' meeting in Kakamega to disseminate the performance of a call centre NTA established in Kakamega to receive complains from members of the public on delivery of services and push for accountability and transparency. The meeting was attended by county commissioners William Kiprono (Vihiga), Joyce Isiaho (Busia), Albert Kamau Kobia (Kakamega) and Peter Okwanyo (West Pokot).

They said they were ready to work with the public through Private, Public Partnership. Appointment of the commissioners by President Kibaki in May was over turned by the high court terming the move unconstitutional. Attorney General Githu Muigai has since said that the executive will not appeal the court decision, leaving the commissioners in dilemma.

Yesterday, Lapisa said that the association also facilitates interaction with democratic institutions, especially in regard to chapter six of the constitution besides tracking the usage of devolved funds. Chapter six of the constitution spells out requirements for any person seeking leadership in the country that requires those seeking leadership to be people with high integrity and credibility.

Lapisa said that NTA is in the process of setting up county accountability networks to help track use of funds that will be devolved from the national Government. Okwanyo said that some politicians in some parts of Western province have asked NTA not to step in their constituencies for implicating their areas in misuse of funds. Okwanyo who was until May Regional Commissioner for Lower Western said NTA had done a lot in tracking use of CDF and LATF in the region.

NTA Western regional co-ordinator Evelyn Khamala said more than half of the complaints received blame those charged with responsibility to share bursary funds for allocating the money to students from well to do families and ignoring deserving cases. "Most of the complainants feel that the bursaries are not serving the intended purposes," said Khamala. She said that the centre has received 7,863 complaints on calls and 635 SMSs since its inception on June 4, 2010. Khamala said that the second in ranking are complains on illegal levied by schools. She said that many parents feel that they are being forced to pay illegal levies and want the Government to intervene and stop the same