LATEST NEWS:
News
It can't be Bob
Currency reserved for dead PMs, national heroes, BOJ says
By KARYL WALKER walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
DEBATE has been raging since last week over the selection of the image of former Prime Minister Hugh Lawson Shearer for the $5,000 note launched yesterday, but the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) said yesterday that it played by the rule regarding the selection of Jamaicans who qualify for appearance on the country's currency.
 |
| Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) Governor Derick Latibeaudiere (left) presents the new $5,000 note to Finance Minister Audley Shaw and Dr Denise Eldemire-Shearer, wife of former prime minister Hugh Shearer at the launch of the note at the BOJ, downtown Kingston yesterday. (Photo: Joseph Wellington) |
According to the central bank, only late prime ministers and national heroes are eligible to be on the country's money, nulling public recommendations that greats like Reggae icon Bob Marley and cultural ambassador Louise 'Miss Lou' Bennett-Coverly should have been considered.
Cultural stakeholders added their voices to the debate last week, nominating Marley, Miss Lou and even humanitarian Mary Seacole as better contenders for the $5,000 note, as soon as the BOJ announced last Thursday that the central bank would be issuing the new note.
 |
Some contended that the former prime minister's impact waned in comparison to the others'.
Marley was a popular choice for persons like Cleveland Brownie, chairman of the Recording Industry Association of Jamaica, who said he regarded Marley as a hero for placing Jamaica on the map as a cultural destination and for enhancing Jamaica's culture, even though the late singer has not been officially elevated to national hero status.
"The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) declared (Bob Marley's) One Love, song of the century and Time magazine called Exodus album of the millennium. I need not say more," Crawford said.
Added Poetry Society of Jamaica host and director Daniel 'Maa' Brooks: "I would honestly say as a poet, Bob Marley should have been on the $5,000 bill. I think even Seaga over Hugh Shearer."
Head of Edna Manley School of Drama Eugene Williams said she would have preferred to see Miss Lou on the new Jamaican banknote, as during the current economic crisis Jamaica needs to emulate heroes who focus on education and culture, like Bennett did.
But according to Tony Morrison, head of the BOJ's public relations department, the criteria for selection was made soon after the country gave up using the British pound and started printing its own money in 1969.
"Only the images of national heroes and dead prime ministers go on our money. The criteria came about soon after we started using our own money," Morrison told the Observer.
The images of the country's six national heroes - Marcus Garvey (50 cents), Samuel Sharpe ($50), Paul Bogle ($2 and 25 cents), Nanny of the Maroons ($500), Norman Manley ($5) and Alexander Bustamante ($1) - have all been used on local currency. The images of late prime ministers Donald Sangster ($100) and Michael Manley, ($1,000), have also been used, leaving Shearer as the only eligible candidate for the $5,000 bill.
But despite the criteria, the image of Noel Nethersole, a former finance minister was used on the now abandoned $20 note which was used between 1976 and 2000.
Nethersole served as finance minister between 1955 and 1959 in the Norman Manley People's National Party Government.
The Observer was unable to ascertain why the rule was broken in his case.
According the Bank of Jamaica website www.boj.org.jm, the first known currency used for trade on the island were called maravedis and were very thin, light in weight and were brought to Jamaica from Santo Domingo.
These were followed by Spanish Pieces of Eight in the 17th and 18th Centuries when Jamaica was the centre for bullion of the British colonies in the New World. The island served as the headquarters of the naval military forces and the base of the buccaneers, and received a constant supply of coins.
Following emancipation in 1838, when the freed slaves became wage earners, there was a greater need for ready cash, especially for values smaller than penny and half- penny.
In November 1869 a penny and half-penny made of cupro-nickel were authorised by the British Government to be used in Jamaica. They weighed the same as the English coins of similar value, but had the Jamaican coat of arms on the reverse.
In 1904, the colonial government passed the Currency Notes Law due to a scarcity of silver coins allowing for banks operating on the island to issue £1 and £5 notes.
In 1968, six years after the country gained independence from Britain, the House of Representatives approved a report of the Select Committee, which recommended that local currency should be dollars
and cents.
The committee also recommended that the portraits of national heroes should replace the image of the queen and that the national motto be incorporated in the design of the new notes.
Other Stories
New BOJ governor takes office a week early
Teenage girl questioned about murder of 93-y-o man
Shopping stimulus for 'Downtown'
Gov't moves to save $300m in health-care costs
Secrecy legislation being used to circumvent ATI
Police send warning to event promoters
Man who killed wife in his sleep freed
RSS Feeds