No, these pictures do not show Kenya's new banknotes

This article is more than one year old.
Published on December 17, 2018 at 12:07
Updated on December 17, 2018 at 12:07
3 min read
By Mary KULUNDU

Several posts circulating widely on Facebook claim to show Kenya's new banknotes, after a launch by President Uhuru Kenyatta. But the Central Bank of Kenya told AFP that only coins were unveiled to the public last week. The pictures of the banknotes already circulated on social media two years ago.

One Facebook post, shared in this group supporting President Kenyatta with more than 300,000 followers, has since attracted more than 700 reactions and 47 shares.

A caption accompanying the misleading post read: "PRESIDENT KENYATTA launches new generation Kenyan currency in accordance with Constitution; currency to have symbols not portraits of persons. Hongera! [Congratulations!] Kenya."

Screenshot of the Facebook post claiming to show Kenya's new currency notes

However, a spokesman for the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) told AFP that only new coins, and no new notes, have so far been released.

The coins were launched by Kenyatta in line with the 2010 constitution which outlawed portraits and images of individuals on currency. The current banknotes bear portraits of Kenyatta’s father, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president, and the second president Daniel Moi.

The new coins replace images of ex-presidents with depictions of wildlife.

The 20-shilling, 10-shilling, 5-shilling and 1-shilling, new generation coins. pic.twitter.com/BlvQvf7vRa
— Central Bank of Kenya (@CBKKenya) December 12, 2018

A reverse image search on Google and Yandex shows that the photos of mocked-up Kenyan bank notes have circulated on social media before, first appearing in September 2017 when activist Okiya Omtatah sought a court order compelling the CBK to issue new notes and coins after the bank missed the constitutional deadline of August 2015 for issuing new currency.

The images were then shared in this Facebook group with more than 1.2 million followers while this website published an article claiming that the images of the new currency notes had been leaked.

It is unclear whether the images do in fact represent what the new notes will look like when they are issued. However, they appear not to meet a key requirement to prevent counterfeits in the form of a distinct interwoven security thread running vertically down the right-hand side of the notes.