A family member of Theodosia Okoh, the designer of Ghana's flag whom the Bank of Ghana has honoured on its new GH₵50 note, Dr Eddie Obeng MBA, has exposed what he describes as a major gaffe by the Bank of Ghana.

The GH₵50 note is part of the new Heritage Series unveiled on Thursday, November 12, 2026, by President John Mahama and Bank of Ghana Governor Dr Johnson Asiama in Accra.

The Bank of Ghana has said the note is dedicated to Theodosia Okoh, who designed Ghana’s red, gold and green flag with the black star in 1957.

But Dr Obeng, the nephew of Theodosia Okoh, says the picture on the new note is not that of Theodosia Salome Okoh, but rather that of his mother, Dr Letitia Obeng.

In a post on LinkedIn, accompanied by front and back images of the new GH₵50 note, Dr Obeng said he had been proud to hear his aunt had been honoured, only to realise the face on the note was not hers.

“I have a wry smile on my face that won't go away, and occasionally I shake my head or giggle. So, I heard this morning that my aunt had been honoured in a new series of issued banknotes in Ghana - she's famous there for designing the country's flag after independence from Britain. I was very proud and began composing a message to my cousin,” he wrote.

“Imagine my surprise when I took a look and realised that they have used a picture of my mother instead - she's famous for being the country's first lady PhD. You can't make it up,” he added.

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His mother Dr Letitia Obeng - is Ghana’s first female scientist and first woman to earn a PhD in the country, and the sister of Theodosia Okoh.

Dr Obeng’s post has since gone viral, with screenshots of it shared multiple times across platforms.

Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, had earlier raised the alarm, and slammed the Bank of Ghana for getting such an important exercise wrong.

Afenyo-Markin also accused the government of rushing the redesign of the currency to erase the Big Six from Ghana’s history, and said the haste led to an error on the GH₵50 note.

“In fact, they were in haste to erase the Big Six from our currency and our history. Out of that haste and hate, we saw them adorning a new fifty-cedi note bearing the name of Theodosia Okoh, but they got her picture wrong,” he said.

The Minority Leader noted that the error reflected broader carelessness in the handling of national symbols and public policy.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Ghana is yet to officially respond to the claims of using the wrong picture of Theodosia Okoh.

However, a Presidential Staffer, who is also a member of the Bank of Ghana Board, Beatrice Annan, has responded in a Facebook post.

In the post, she said the portrait is an engraved artistic impression of Theodosia Okoh, created by merging three photographs of her, with her hairstyle adjusted to suit engraving.

The Bank of Ghana is yet to officially respond.



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