Introduction of new cedi notes 'make nonsense' of Bawumia’s cashless initiatives – Franklin Cudjoe

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of policy think tank, IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe has questioned the relevance of the new GHS 100 and GHS 200 cedi notes introduced by the Bank of Ghana, ABC News has gathered.

Franklin Cudjoe contends that the introduction of these notes will not serve any important purpose but will rather militate against Dr. Bawuwia’s hardworking initiatives implemented to drive the economy towards the cashless system.

In a Facebook post sighted by ABC News, the founding President of IMANI expressed concern over the essence of the new notes particularly at a time when the country is embarking on a comprehensive digitisation agenda to create a ‘cashless’ society.

In his view, the new notes are needless as he observed that there have been no public complaints against the existing denomination, warranting the introduction of a higher denomination.

“So who really asked for these large bank notes? I thought we are driving a cashless society. Large notes have been found to be helpful to criminals ( terrorists, money launderers, human traffickers- The Economist, May 7, 2016) who can easily hide stolen money. Just another example to make nonsense of our hard working Veep’s electronic initiatives,” excerpts of his Facebook post read.

The IMANI boss added that the new banknotes, aside “making nonsense of our hardworking Veep’s electronic initiatives” has the propensity to aid in criminal activities like terrorist funding, laundering and human trafficking as supported by The Economist.

He therefore urged the BoG to “focus its energy on preventing the odious tax consideration on mobile money, which by far is the single most important developing world revolution in driving a cashless society, instead of being happy to have left a legacy of large banknotes, even if the beautiful signature of its leader on these notes is the sole reason for introducing them.”

The Governor, Dr. Ernest Addison, who announced the introduction of the new denominations at a press conference on Friday said the Central Bank went through a thorough thinking process before arriving at the decision.

He said the Bank of Ghana consulted broadly and conducted a survey that indicated a demand for the higher denomination of banknotes.