Kenya: New Series of Coins and Banknotes 2018

[eurocoin]

Unfortunately the article is a few weeks old and no new currency has been shown. All questions relating to the new currency are being ignored. Allegedly the busts are going to be replaced by typical Kenyan vegetation.

[Pabitra]

No news still for new designs

[eurocoin]

Accoring to the Central Bank of Kenya, the new notes and coins are sheduled to be released September 2017.

[Pabitra]

And when is final decision on East African Economic Union common currency due to be taken?

[eurocoin]

The Central Bank of Kenya is clearly seriously preparing for the new currency series. They recently ordered several coin crushing machines and found a mint and a printer to produce the new coins. Sources close to The Royal Mint hint at the fact that RM is involved in the production of the new coins.  Although the Royal Mint has always been making Kenya's coins, for the first time a tender was held by the Central Bank of Kenya. The results of the tender were never published nor was the central bank willing to provide any further information. The notes will be made at De La Rue in Nairobi.

[Bimat]

Central Bank Disowns New Currency Circulating on Social Media

By David Koech
Friday, 22 Sep 2017 06:55AM

One week ago, activist Okiya Omtatah gave Central Bank governor Patrick Njoroge 7 days to remove the face of Jomo Kenyatta from all Kenyan bank notes. According to the 2010 constitution, our currency should have images that depict certain aspects of Kenya, and not faces of individuals.

The Central Bank has however failed to implement this requirement since the promulgation of the constitution in 2010. But the CBK governor has now reportedly committed to setting the ball rolling on the design and production of the new currency.

For the past few days, images of the new proposed currency have been doing rounds on social media. It is unclear where they came from, but the Central Bank has denied officially releasing the new designs.

The attention to detail can only possibly have come from the CBK, and its likely some staff members let the cat out before time.

All denominations have so far made their way online, namely Sh50 containing a buffalo, the Sh100 note which contains a leopard, Sh200 note which contains two rhinos, Sh 500 note that contains a lion and the Sh1000 note which appropriately contains an elephant.

This completes the Big 5.

But some funny characters think the 50 shilling note should contain a picture of our traffic police officers. Well, it is their favourite tool of work, so why not.

Or perhaps paying homage to the 'real Kenyan heroes', Team Mafisi.

All in all, we will have to wait for the final Central Bank confirmation before we know how our new currency will look like.

Source: Nairobi Wire

[eurocoin]

Kenyan activist Okiyah Omtatah has sued the Central Bank of Kenya to force it to obey to the Kenyan constitution and so to release the new notes and coins which do not depict the portrait of the president. He had given them 7 days to issue the new currency after which he threatened to sue them. After the Central Bank ignored his demand, he now puts his money where his mouth is.

The Kenyan High Court has classed the case as urgent and a matter of priority. In the case Mr Omtatah will try to force the government to issue the new coins and notes within 180 days. Further information on this is expected on October 11.

When asked earlier this week, the Central Bank of Kenya and the Treasury were both unable to provide a(n) (estimated) date of issuance of the new currency.

Kenya changed its constitution 7 years ago to ban the use of images of people on legal tender. It has so far however always ignored this rule. 

[eurocoin]

De La Rue and De La Rue Kenya EPZ Ltd. have both moved to the Kenyan High Court to stop the Central Bank of Kenya's tender for the printing of the banknotes of the new currency series.

For the last 25 years the Central Bank of Kenya always used De La Rue in Nairobi to print their notes. Central Bank of Kenya has this time held an international tender.

In the documents that De La Rue sent to the court, the company refers to the Kenyan Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act which stipulates under section 157 (9) that in every tender there should be a mandatory requirement that at least 40% of the supplies has to be sourced from citizen contractors. The current tender does not include such requirement. According to De La Rue the tender would in its current form do irreparable harm to the local industry.

De La Rue furthermore mentioned that "The law requires all public bodies including CBK to conduct a procurement process that is fair, equitable, transparent, and competitive and cost-effectiveness." According to De La Rue the procurement process is unfair and illegal because there was no justification for issuance of an international tender when the CBK was fully aware of the fact that the company has, for the last 25 years, been printing money and producing currency banknotes in Ruaraka, Nairobi.

The firm also stated that the CBK has invited tenders from foreign tenderers by use of tender documents that do not comply with the mandatory requirements of the constitution.

It is unknown to what extend this is going to influence the production of the new currency as the tender process will be completed and the tender will be awarded before this comes before the court. They had requested the tender process to be halted during the pendency of the legal proceedings but the judge has refused this.

[Bimat]

Kenya to get new look notes and coins by June 2018

By Otiato Guguyu | Published Sat, November 25th 2017 at 00:00, Updated November 24th 2017 at 22:51 GMT +3

Kenya will get new currency by June next year after the Central Bank moved to contract international companies to design and print notes and mint coins.

CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge said they will issue new notes and coins between April and June next year.

"Our expectations according to timelines are to issue the currency in the second quarter of 2018," Dr Njoroge said yesterday at a press briefing.

According to court papers filed by British firm De La Rue to stop the process, CBK issued an international tender on October 24 this year with bids opened to select a winner on Wednesday this week.

CBK in replies filed, however, claimed it invited bidders on July 8, 2014 through an advertisement in the dailies.

De la Rue has challenged supply of new design notes claiming CBK locked it out of the tender after it prequalified international firms.

The firm claimed the apex bank should have first established if the currency could be printed locally before it went shopping abroad.

De La Rue, which has been printing Kenyan currency for the past 25 years, also argued that offshoring printing posed a risk while it is safer to print in Ruaraka, Nairobi where currency is also destroyed.

It should have set conditions for technology supply and required the international firm to acquire 40 per cent of supplies locally.

"We are moving ahead with production and issuance which is consistent with the constitution, the CBK Act and other laws," Njoroge said.

CBK told the court that there are no local firms that can print new currency notes in accordance to its specifications.

The banking sector regulator told the court that due to the complex nature of currency production, materials are imported.

CBK also denied using De La Rue to destroy old bank notes adding that the exercise is done without any involvement of any printer.

It also explained that many countries do not have local banknotes printers and the same does not breach their security.

Source: Standard Media

[eurocoin]

The drama continues..

Central Bank Kenya now suddenly wants to appoint De La Rue as the printer of the new notes. In a strange turn activist Okiya Omtatah has now moved to court to prevent De La Rue from being appointed as supplier of the new notes. As can be read a few messages up in this topic, Mr Omtatah is also involved in a court case in which he demands the Central Bank of Kenya to issue the new currency as soon as possible.

According to Mr Omtatah the bid of De La Rue to print the currency is far from the cheapest. According to him American Crane & Company and French firm Oberthur Fiduciaire both quoted a better price. Furthermore he remarked that the security features that De La Rue is planning to use can deter counterfeiting as they are worse than the ones used in the EUR, USD, GBP and even the Uganda shilling notes. According to the Central Bank of Kenya, mr Omtatah has obtained evidence he filed to court illegally and they have asked the court to not take it into consideration.

The court has for now frozen the appointment of a winner of CBK's printing tender which will cause delay in the rollout of the new currency.

[Figleaf]

Translation: officials wanted a huge bribe and De La Rue balked, believing they could not be circumvented, having a plant in Kenya. The corrupt officials called their bluff and De La Rue paid up, working the bribe into their price for printing the notes.

Kenya is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Mr. Omtatah is lucky to have high name recognition. Yet, once he is perceived as going too far or being too successful, he may die mysteriously anyway.

Peter

[Pabitra]

All this drama pertains to notes.

Why are the coins getting delayed?

[eurocoin]

All this drama pertains to notes.

Why are the coins getting delayed?

As far as I know the general idea at all times has been that the entire generation of new currency was going to be introduced at once. The Central Bank seems to stick to that despite the problems with the notes. If there are any good reasons for doing so, I do not know.

[Bimat]

De La Rue invests Ksh286 million in expansion of Kenya operations

by Martin Mwita   
January 30, 2018

NAIROBI, KENYA, JAN 30 — Designer and commercial printer of banknotes — De La Rue has invested KShs286 million (US$2.9 million) in the expansion of its site in Kenya, to strengthen and underpin its local operations.

This is part of a long term investment of Ksh1.4 billion to upgrade its operational site in Nairobi, as it seeks to remain a regional hub for East Africa and the wider continent and a global centre of excellence for De La Rue.

The firm's marketing director, Robin Mackenzie, says the huge investment in expansion of the site will standardise the firm's global manufacturing footprint and increase its overall flexibility and capability.

This has the potential to create more jobs and enhance Kenya's high tech export capability.

There are currently 300 employees on site.

Amongst other new capabilities, the upgrade includes the installation of a state of the art Komori Varnish Press and an increase to the overall factory size.

Mackenzie says the Varnish Press will enhance DLR Kenya's service offering and its technical capability to meet the increasing market demand for more durable varnished banknotes.

The design and construction of the building is being undertaken by local Kenyan companies and all support services were sourced via the strong local Kenyan supply chain.

"This phase of the project is on plan for completion early 2018 and has brought together approximately 100 skilled Kenyan tradesmen from the local area," he said.

The state of the art new destruction system is being installed at a cost of Ksh51.2million (US$512,000) and will allow De La Rue to securely manage end of life note destruction and disposal in accordance with its world class ISO 14298 and DIN66399 certifications.

It will also enable the firm to offer a complete one stop shop service to existing and potential customers, from design to destruction, in a highly secure environment and manage end of life note destruction and disposal for any banknote securely.

"The end waste product from the system is used as part of the De La Rue Kenya corporate social responsibility to the local community," Mackenzie said.

The Ksh28.7million (US$287,000) state of the art air-lock loading bay will also ensure the firm continues to meet its commitment to ISO 14298 and its Intergraf accreditation requirements.

Its design and construction is being undertaken by local Kenyan companies  and is on schedule for completion next month.

The DLR Kenya site has been manufacturing for 25 years, and was the first and still is the only site on the African continent to hold the highest level of security accreditation covered by ISO 14298.

De La Rue designs, manufactures and delivers banknotes, banknote substrates and security features to customers in a world where currency continues to be a key part of the developing payments eco-system.

It is the only fully integrated supplier of both paper and polymer banknotes, and creates security features that ensure banknotes are protected against counterfeiting.

The London Stock Exchange (LON-DLAR) listed firm is the world's largest commercial printer of passports, delivering national and international identity tokens and software solutions for governments in a world that is increasingly focused on the importance of a legal and secure identity for every individual.

It also creates and delivers secure product identifiers and 'track and trace' software for governments and commercial customers alike, to help to tackle the challenge of illicit or counterfeit goods and the collection of revenue and excise duties.

Source: Exchange

[eurocoin]

De La Rue is extremely desperate. For some reason they seem to have the support of almost the entire industry.

I contacted mr Omtatah some time ago with a few questions but he did not bother to reply.