Re-dominination: The Saga continues

As the 1st July approaches, news on this exercise still meets criticism.

I first spoke about this exercise on the HYPERINFLATION: The End??? post last month. Since then I have come across the following articles.

On MyJoy online many articles regarding this exercise can be found, however this article, "Use local languages in re-denomination campaign" struck a cord with me. It talks about a farmer, Mr. Kobena Oguan, who has appealed to agencies engaged in public education on the cedi re-denomination exercise to use the local languages instead of English. A sorry state of affairs eh!! Surely if Ghanaian television broadcasting recognises that local language broadcasts are necessary, then surely one would expect that this be the model for all publicity that requires national attention.

Requests for the literate to educate the illiterate seems is what Professor N. Nsowah-Nuamah suggests after he toured parts of the Makola market in Accra to ascertain how far traders understood the exercise and their readiness for the new currency. The article written by Phyllis D. Osabutey called Ghana: Market Women At a Loss , goes on to address the professors findings and illustrates how the ongoing re-denomination exercise with various media and other public education campaigns seems to have created much awareness about the new currency, but little information with regard to the conversions.

Stock Market watchers have also expressed concern. This is reported in the Business Week article Another Way Out for New Cedi on GSE . Not being a financial expert, the conversion solution does appear to make sense. However, I feel an informed solution is still needed.

A much older article talks about how the biggest battle for this exercise is in the open markets of Makola, Mallata, Kaa Djaano, Kumasi Dwem, Kejetia, Asafo-Market, Kotokoraba, Abofour and Techiman Dwem where 80% of business takes place. Conceptualization - the biggest problem of the cedi re-denomination written by Kwesi Atta-Krufi Hayford talks about his view on how this exercise should be performed.

Being a simple person, I was happy to see a teenager making her request for better education of this exercise. 16 year old Anita Manatey from Shiannoh JSS in Apenkwa puts her view across as well. Whilst Use Re-Denomination Of The Cedi - What Kids Say may not draw much attention to viable solutions, it still brings a smile to your face.

My biggest question is, if this is what is going on in Ghana, how on earth are the diaspora supposed to know as well. For example, if you regularly send money home, how will it be converted? For information on that, so far I come across mixed messages that only reflect the disillusionment of those back home.

Ah well, lets wait until July the 1st ehh!!!!.