The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Mkinga Mkinga
30 June 2009
Bank of Tanzania (BoT) is reported to have completed the process to contract tow forign firms to print new bank notes.
Speaking to this newspaper over the telephone from abroad yesterday, Central Bank Governor Prof Benno Ndulu, said two reputable companies have been picked for the task. The successful bidders will be announced shortly.
Prof Ndulu said: "We have selected two companies. I will release their names soon after I return home."
He said the new bank notes will be slightly different from the ones currently in use.
Interviewed by this newspaper last year, Prof Ndulu said the state of affairs in the country had necessitated the introduction of new bank notes.
However, he was non committal when asked to elaborate on what he meant by state of affairs that has led to the change.
The BoT tender was floated after the contract with the former printer, Thomas De La rue, expired.
The BoT chief said the move to look for another printer, was also aimed at meeting the requirements of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) Act, that bank notes printers should be changed after every five or seven years.
"The current printer has been working with BoT for seven years. We have reached the limit according to the law and that is partly why we have new printers," he said.
The plan to change the currency, according to Prof Ndulu, would involve removing from the bank notes signatures of two former public officials currently implicated in scandals.
The current notes bear the signatures of former BoT Governor Daudi Ballali, who was sacked by President Jakaya Kikwete after it was revealed by an international audit firm, Ernst & Young, that the Central Bank lost Sh133 billion under his watch.
The notes also bear the signature of former Finance minister Basil Mramba, who is facing abuse of office charge in a Dar es Salaam court.
The Government last changed the bank notes in 2003, when it introduced denominations of Sh500, Sh1,000, Sh2,000, Sh5,000, and Sh10,000.
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