It's an offence to refuse new currency

Mankessim, July 4, GNA - It is an offence to refuse to accept the new Ghana Cedi in exchange for goods and services, the Mankessim Branch Manager of the Ghana Commercial Bank, Mr Samuel Okyere, has warned. Mr. Okyere gave the warning when a customer of the Bank reported to him that a "white man" he was negotiating with to buy a saw milling machine had refused to accept 200 Ghana Cedis he had withdrawn from the Bank earlier.

According to Mr. Philip Adonu, a carpenter, he was to pay 3.5 million cedis to the white man he only known as Franco. Mr Adonu said he withdrew 200 Ghana cedis and added 1.5 million cedis of the old currency and took the money to Franco who refused to accept the new currency.

The carpenter then went back to the Bank to change the new money back into the old cedi notes but Mr. Okyere refused, saying, "we should not allow any foreigner to dictate what is good for the nation". The manager explained that the purpose for the re-denomination was to avoid the carrying of large sums of money for transactions and said the purpose of the exercise would be defeated if people refuses to accept the new currency.

There were long queues when GNA visited some banks in parts of the Central Region to see how the exercise was being conducted. At the Gomoa Rural Bank at Apam, a queue had been formed hours before it opened for business with people anxious to see and feel the new money.

Mr. Tetteh Lawer Akrofi, the Manager said the delay in getting new chequebooks with the Ghana cedi sign from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) was posing problems.

He said that as an interim measure the bank had rubber stamps bearing the new currency sign and asked customers to submit their cheques for the stamping of the new currency sign on them. A customer whose cheque dated June 29, 2007 could not be cashed last Friday, was turned away on Tuesday when he presented it because the amount to be withdrawn had been stated in the old currency. The customer argued that since the old and the new currencies were to run concurrently until December this year, he saw no reason why the Bank asked him to prepare another cheque stating the amount to be withdrawn in the new currency.

At the Ekumfiman Rural Bank at Ekumfi Essuehyia, the Manager, Mr. Michael Kumi Frimpong, said the anxiety of the people to get the new currency had brought some pressure on the staff but expressed the hope that the situation would change by next week.

At the Mankessim Ghana Commercial Bank, the Manager, Mr. Samuel Okyere, said there were heavy withdrawals by traders for their transactions on Wednesday, which was a market day. The story at the Mfantseman Community Bank at Biriwa was different when GNA got there at 14 hours.

There were only some few students from the Biriwa Vocational Technical Institute in the banking hall to change their money for the new currency. 04 Jul 07