Shops and traders are now rejecting the old fifty Ghana Cedis note because it ceased to be a legal tender from October 1.

Many people who ignorantly attempted to use the note were shocked when shops and traders refused to accept them.

Ironically, many people who went to some Commercial Banks to withdraw money were served with the old cedi notes which were eventually rejected by shops and traders.

The Ghanaian Times' investigations revealed that many people were unaware of the deadline set by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) when the notes would cease to be tender.

Consequently, a number of them told the Ghanaian Times that shops, traders, electricity and water pre-paid points among others were refusing to accept the old GHC 50 cedis notes.

When contacted the BoG confirmed that the old notes ceased to be a legal tender since October 1 and reminded the public that the old note could no longer be used to transact any business in the country but could only be changed to the newly introduced note at any Commercial Bank.

“The old fifty Cedi note ceased to be a legal tender effective October 1, this year. No individual or business should accept the old note for any form of transaction”, Benjamin Amoah, Head of Financial Stability, Bank of Ghana told the Times in an interview in Accra yesterday.

He said the BoG had given ample time for the graduate phase out of the note, adding that the deadline given by the Central Bank passed long ago.

Ghanaian cedi banknotes have been under pressure from counterfeiters both internal and external for sometime with the GHC 50 banknote being the most counterfeited due to its high value.

The new note has a cocoa pod called “spark” that replaces the old holographic patch while the number 50 at the bottom of the front is now green instead of gold.

It is the only note that can be accepted by the public”, he said.

This was why the bank decided to introduce on August 21 an upgraded GHC 50 banknote with a more secured public recognition features.

He said the upgraded GHC 50 was introduced to ensure that bank note security was not compromised.

The Spark, which replaces the holograms, is in the form of a green cocoa pod at the bottom right hand corner of the banknote.

When the upgraded banknote is tilted, the cocoa pod changes colour progressively from green to blue and back to green. A beam of light rolls on the cocoa pod.

He said due to technological advancement, there was the need to continuously improve the security features of banknotes to make them more difficult for potential counterfeit to imitate.

Mr. Amoah advised members of the public with the old notes to change their old notes at any Commercial bank at no cost.

Meanwhile checks conducted by the Times indicated that some Commercial banks were still paying customers with the old fifty cedi note which was however being rejected by businesses.

“I went to the bank today and was given the old note which was subsequently rejected in the market”, a customer complained to the Times.