Bank of Ghana urges public to report any suspicious counterfeiting of its 60th anniversary commemorative GHS 5.00 notes to the police or a bank

“It is only the central bank or those who have been trained in the commercial banks who can detect what a counterfeit currency is”. Acting Head of Currency Management at the central bank, Edward Musey has said, adding that; “even though generally sometimes when you see the note, you can see that this note doesn’t look genuine. But at that stage it remains a suspect note because it is a mimic of an existing bank note”.

The Bank of Ghana has been inundated with concerns from a cross section of Ghanaians over possible counterfeiting of the new 60^th anniversary commemorative GHS 5.00 notes released by the central bank.

Report suspicious counterfeit notes

Mr Musey advised the general public to report any suspicious counterfeiting of the new currency to the police or the Bank of Ghana for the appropriate action to be taken.

“We have procedures, when you see this, you walk to the nearest bank, if you have access to the central bank fair enough, you can just walk in and say ‘I received this note from a transaction and I am not too sure; so can you please check and let me know”; he urged.  He further said the central bank may change the note for you if found to be fake. The Acting Head of the Currency Management said the law enforcement agencies may also be brought in to investigate if need be.

Speaking to Melody News after a sensitization programme with staff of the bank and the media at the Takoradi branch on Thursday April 6 2017, Mr Musey said his outfit had received very positive response from the public in the initial distribution of the new notes which would be used as a legal tender and a collector’s item. It would also be used alongside the old notes already in circulation.

The Bank of Ghana says it is going to push more of its 60^th anniversary commemorative GHS 5.00 notes into the system in the coming weeks. Mr Musey revealed that about 98 percent of the country was covered in the distribution of the new notes released on the 7^th of March this year.

Enhanced Security Features

The new note features an engraved portrait of Dr James Kwegyir Aggrey, a missionary and a teacher in the Gold Coast, who lived from October 18, 1875, to July 30, 1927. Dr James Kwegyir Aggrey contributed immensely to education to the then Gold Coast.

Ghana’s central bank has said the new commemorative GHS 5.00 note has enhanced security feature that is sensitive to touch enable the visually impaired identify it.

By:Joe Bright Nyarko