Hypothetically, politics is neither for the poor nor the fainthearted but charging exorbitant fees for the registration of parties, impedes democratic fair play.

South Sudan is expected to transform into a democratic nation through the conduct of elections, anticipated for December this year and before that, political parties are to register.

However, democracy, as an ideal rule, has never been exhibited in any country as envisioned by the founding philosophers, not even in their own soil but something similar does exist.

In our context, South Sudan’s version of democracy may not dress like that of the USA and other developed countries, but let’s pick leaves from our neighbors, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and DR Congo. Though, theirs has never been a party full of cakes and roses, yet has some aspects to peck and swallow.

One thing is for sure, these countries have never charged registration for political contests in US dollars and more so, it has never been as high as $50,000, that it could finance a budget of a county for a fiscal year.

Well, if that is what it entails for the country to attain democratic status, could the responsible institution explain to the nation, the purpose of charging such amount of money? Who came up with the criteria for deriving the charges and who were consulted?

The staggering fees, set a rough starting ground, an indicator of commercializing democracy, which in the end, erodes prudence.