President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday launched the new Kenyan currency in accordance with the 2010 constitution.
New generation currency becomes legal tender today with issuance of new coins as stipulated under the 2010 Constitution ~ @CBKKenya pic.twitter.com/2QFUOUZdVH
— Robin Njogu (@robinnjogu) December 11, 2018
Officiating the launch of the new generation currency at the CBK, he noted “We shall be unveiling a set of new generation coins which are compliant with our 2010 constitution. I am extremely pleased that today we can achieve another milestone.”
“I am informed that the new generation coins continue the tradition of depicting an aspect that best describes our country,” he added. The new coins will begin to circulate from Tuesday and will bear symbols not portraits of persons.
The Sh1 coin now bears the image of a giraffe, the Sh5 coin a rhino, the Sh10 coin a lion while the Sh20 coin will now sport an elephant.
Sh1 coins weighs 5.5g and are silver in colour while the Sh5coin weighs 3.75g with a diameter of 19.5mm. The Sh10 coin weighs 5g, is 23mm in diameter with a yellow outer and silver inner.
The new Sh20 coin weighs 9 grammes with a diameter of 26mm – it’s silver outside and yellow inside. It’s silver on the outer side and yellow inside.
The new currency will contain features that make them accessible to visually impaired people. Uhuru explained that the country’s economy could not grow without factoring in small and medium enterprises.
The President of Kenya further received dividends from CBK annually being that the government is a shareholder of the bank. He thereafter deposited the cheque at the CBK banking counter.