Opposition parties reject exorbitant registration fees

By Simon Deng

Several opposition parties have rejected the exorbitant fees being charged by the powerful Political Parties Council (PPC) for them to get registered.

The PPC has set registration fee for each political party to acquire provisional license at 50,000 U.S dollars.

 Gai Chol Paul, the Chairperson of People’s United Front (PUF) under the Coalition of Opposition Parties (COOP) on Monday said they have petitioned the Political Parties Council to reduce the registration fees, adding that they are illegal.

 “We are deeply concerned about the sudden and significant rise from 20,000 SSP to 50,000 dollars for a provisional license imposed by the current leadership of Political Parties’ Council,” said Chol while handing over the petition to the Political Parties’ Council headquarters in Juba.

“We are calling on the PPC to reconsider this decision and revert the fee back to its original amount of 20,000 SSP. This was the official registration fee prior to the appointment of the new leadership,” he added.

Chol said the exorbitant fees imposed on them by the PPC go against the principle of democracy and fair political participation.

“The registration of political parties should not be a means of controlling the number of parties in the country, but rather a process of legalization. This steep fee only serves to hinder and discourage citizens from exercising their right to participate in the upcoming elections,” he said.

Lam Akol Ajawin, the Chairperson for National Democratic Movement under the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) said the Political Parties’ Council is applying the law without regulation.

 “We get surprised that they fix a fee in foreign currency, there is no basis in law, the provisional registration was not supposed to be a stage where you pay money  and now we have developed into another commercial enterprise,” he said,