CBK rolls out new coins, notes next

CBK rolls out new coins, notes next

New generation coins have been launched for use in the country. This in line with the requirements of Article 231(4) of the Constitution.

Since independence, Kenyans have known and used currency bearing the portrait of former heads of state Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Arap Moi.

But in conformity to the 2010 Constitution, the government on Tuesday gazetted new generation coins that bear no symbols or portraits of persons.

Article 231(4) of the Constitution bars the use of portraits or images of individuals on currency and that they should only bear images that depict an aspect of Kenya.

“It is yet another milestone we are achieving launching the family of new generation coins, they are the wishes of Kenyans with regard to their national currency as expressed in our constitution,” said President Kenyatta.

The new look coins will bear the image of some of the country’s wild animal attractions.

A one shilling coin will have the image of giraffe, five shillings a rhino, ten shillings a lion, while a twenty bob coin will bear the image of an elephant.

“They are now legal tender… The new coins bear a significant aspect of our nation, and they will serve as a means of passing knowledge, conserving culture, promoting our global uniqueness by engraving the selected images in the coinage an awareness of our country and its characteristics will be revitalised, giving fiscal expression to a newly reborn and prosperous Kenya,” said Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge.

“I am pleased to note that it bears features that are more accessible to visually impaired persons,” added President Kenyatta.

British firm De la Rue will be printing the new currency after it won a long legal tussle, in which it had been accused together with the Central Bank of Kenya of colluding to influence the currency printing tender.

The Central Bank says it will carry out sensitisation campaigns in the coming days to educate public on the new features of the coin. The regulator is expected to roll out new generation currency notes sometime next year.

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