Sunyani traders embrace redenomination exercise

Sunyani (B/A) April 19, GNA - The re-denomination of the cedi is about two months away to take effect, yet some traders, especially market women in Sunyani that Ghana News Agency spoke to are still struggling to come to terms with the new currency to be introduced by the Bank of Ghana (BoG).

While some said they really understood the re-denomination programme and were anxiously waiting for its arrival, others claimed they were yet to understand and wished that the old currency would be maintained to avoid confusion and cheating.

When GNA visited 'Eno Busuma' market, a popular market day held every Wednesday and interacted with the traders, some of them expressed sentiments about the whole exercise, calling for constant education to be carried out to enable them to understand the exercise well. Madam Florence Oppong, a 42 year-old cloth seller who has been in the business for 20 years expressed fear and worry and opposed exercise vehemently, saying it would give more room to armed robbers to rape and assault them.

She explained that, "the currency would be too small so armed robbers may suspect that we have hidden our money in our private parts and this will give them the opportunity to mishandle us. It is good for those in the offices, not us in the market".

The cloth seller suggested that the currency should rather be in higher denominations.

Mama Adoma, who has supplied wood boards for 10 years, said she preferred the current money in circulation because some unscrupulous people would take advantage and dupe others, adding, "By the time we become used to it, we would have lost our capital".

Miss Vida Bioh, a 25 year-old seller of bathroom slippers, popularly known as "Charlie Wote", who has been in business for six months stated that even though she had been seeing the advert on television, she was yet to grasp the full import of the whole exercise but added she was however ready for it.

Maa Lizzy, a tomato seller from Techire, who has been selling the produce for the past 18 years, said she had heard about it but had still not been educated enough about it. She explained that the nature of her job made it difficult for her to watch TV or listen to radio but added quickly she was ready to accept the challenge.

Sister Joyce, a fish monger for 12 years said she was yet to understand the whole exercise but was ready to learn. Some of the traders however, beamed with confidence and declared that they fully understood the exercise because they had been watching it on TV and heard it on radio and as such they did not have any problems.

Two yam sellers, Madam Gladys Fosuah and Dora Koomson who have been in the business for seven and 12 years respectively said they were waiting for its "arrival" as it would give value to the currency. Kwesi Boamah, a second hand clothes dealer based in Accra and Sunyani declared it would ease his burden of having to carry huge some sums of money on him to transact business and was ready to embrace it. A senior official at the BoG office in Sunyani when told by GNA about the problems the traders faced said he shared their concerns, saying, "even at the heart of Accra, people are still green about the exercise".

He admitted that cheating and fraudulent activities could be in operation, especially with those in rural areas but added they would get used to it with time.

The official noted that he would impress on the Information Services Department and the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), which had been tasked with the sensitization programme, to extend their services to the doorsteps of the people to enable them to understand the whole exercise.

The official expressed regret about the lukewarm attitude of some District Chief Executives (DCEs) and some Assembly Members about the exercise as they had not shown greater interest in efforts to get the majority of the people educated and this had not yielded positive result.

He said efforts he had made to meet them regularly to discuss ways of disseminating the information to the people in the rural areas had not received any good response.

The BoG official however, commended the Dormaa District for the quick and good response by the people to a sensitization meeting he organised.

He urged banks in the region to use the re-denomination exercise to get more people to save with the banks and urged the public to accept the challenge as the exercise was not being introduced to destroy their businesses but rather to help them in their transactions.

The bank official appealed to the public to exchange the old currency only at the banks and not to accept offers from individuals to exchange their monies for them as some miscreants were preparing to capitalize on the situation to dupe unsuspecting people. 19 March 07