Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda has told parliament that it is a criminal offence to use counterfeit banknotes and those found with them will be liable for imprisonment.

Mr Chikwanda said the penalty is enough deterrence for people to be discouraged to engage in the production and use of counterfeit banknotes.

The Minister explained in parliament that the Bank of Zambia incorporates sophisticated security features in designing the banknote especially on high value banknotes as they are more susceptible to counterfeit.

The Finance Minister was responding to a question from Kaputa Member of Parliament Maxas Ng’onga who wanted to know what measures government has taken to address the problem of counterfeit Kwacha notes and what it is doing to sensitise rural communities on counterfeit notes to protect them from being swindled.

Mr Chikwanda said government through the Bank of Zambia conducts regular sensitization campaigns across the country on the security features of genuine banknotes.
He said the programme was especially visible during the time of rebasing of the Kwacha in 2012 and added that the Bank of Zambia also provides literature that assists the public to know more about genuine banknotes.

Mr Chikwanda added that the Bank of Zambia monitors both the quantity and quality of banknotes in circulation by ensuring that clean banknotes are in circulation and that all intercepted counterfeit notes are removed from circulation.

10 COMMENTS

jojo October 16, 2014 At 6:55 am

Is Steven Masumba out of Jail?
- Mushota October 16, 2014 At 10:32 am
  
  I disagree.
  
  Criminal proceedings should only be levied at the people that make these notes and NOT the people passing them on.
  
  It is a chain reaction they would have been given or bought things with the sole expectation of the notes being genuine
  
  They should look at investigating and find the source of production.
  
  Thanks
Moderator October 16, 2014 At 6:58 am

So this Minister means to tell me that his fellow parliamentarians do not know that it is a crime?
You and Me October 16, 2014 At 7:23 am

The Minister avoided the question. What measures have been put to address the problem? Telling us that there was a law against producing and using counterfeit currency is stating the obvious. The sensitisation he is talking about was to market the new currency and was not specific to showing the citizens how to identify counterfeit notes from genuine ones. There was no sample counterfeit notes to compare with the new re-based currency so that we can tell them apart..
Mr. Speaker, sir, invite the Minister of Finance back to answer the question; he has not done justice to it!
Kakonkote October 16, 2014 At 7:47 am

The biggest question is whether it’s even humanly possible just with the eye to know which one of the Kwacha is genuine or counterfeit. A lot of this money does not end up in the financial institutions and will be used in shops and other places to buy goods. All shops in zambia do not have detection tools
Debo October 16, 2014 At 8:07 am

Here is another fun fact for the minister. Humans need oxygen, water and food to stay alive. I’m tired of these fossils..
ray-ray October 16, 2014 At 8:17 am

Thank you captain obvious! i didn’t know this…my life has just changed, now i know more about what is illegal…
Aquilla October 16, 2014 At 9:57 am

What a waste of air and precious Zambian time.
PM October 16, 2014 At 10:05 am

Thank you for letting me know. I wasnt aware that using counterfeit money was a crime. I will henceforth stop printing them and destroy my printing machine. Thank you again Minister of Finance.
Stirflow October 16, 2014 At 2:01 pm

Ba Maxas Ng’onga I am sure there are better questions you could have thought of to ask the Minister of Finance. I sincerely hope this daft question was not asked during the 2015 budget debate