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| “Big Six missing in New Gh 2 Cedis note” |
4/1/2010 |
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The Bank of Ghana has unveiled a dummy of the new GH¢2 note with the portrait of the Big Six which appears on the other notes visibly missing.
Rather the note bears a bold portrait of Ghana’s first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, and a watermark of Tetteh Quarshie, the man who brought cocoa to Ghana.
It confirms earlier media reports suggesting portraits of other members of the Big Six will be removed from the new cedi denomination.
The Big Six were the six leaders of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), the leading political party in the British colony of the Gold Coast. They were detained by the colonial authorities in 1948 following disturbances leading to the killing of three World War II veterans.
They were Dr. Ebenezer Ako-Adjei, Edward Akufo-Addo, Dr Joseph Boakye Danquah, Mr Emmanuel Odarkwei Obetsebi-Lamptey and William Ofori Atta with Dr Nkrumah as the sixth person.
The reverse of the GH¢2 note depicts the old and new Parliament buildings which authorities say signify Ghana’s deepening democracy.
According to the Bank of Ghana, the note comes with some advanced security features to check counterfeiting.
BoG Governor Kwesi Amissah Arthur told Joy News Dr Nkrumah was featured on the note to commemorate the birth of the former president.
“We are commemorating his birth 100 years ago with this note,” Dr Arthur said of Dr Nkrumah, adding, the decision was not a difficult one.
GH¢5 note is most counterfeited
Dr Arthur said the GH¢5 is the most counterfeited among the new Ghana cedi notes released by the central bank.
The next most faked note is the GH¢10 note, the BoG Governor indicated.
The reason for the situation is not far-removed from the fact that the two appear to be the easiest to print.
However, Dr Arthur says designers of the new note took into consideration the security flaws of the previous notes.
He said the bank is currently considering ways of improving the security features in the GH¢5, especially, “to make it more difficult to counterfeit.”
Don’t accept ‘any note’!
Meanwhile, the BoG governor has warned traders to desist from accepting “any note” as legal tender.
He suggests people must carefully examine the Ghana cedi notes they are given at any time because “there are quite a few of those counterfeits around.”
Although accurate statistics are not yet available on counterfeiting in the country it is known that the circulation of fake currency costs economy substantially.
Story by Fiifi Koomson/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana
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