Heritage Cedi Notes Won't Save Us When Our Rivers Are Polluted And Our Forests Are Gone

Ghana is a country that loves symbols. We love to celebrate our heritage, print it on our currency, sing about it, and display it proudly to the world. But symbols without action are empty.

Today, we are being told to celebrate the introduction of heritage cedi notes. Beautiful notes carrying the faces and stories of our heroes, our culture, and our identity. On the surface, it looks patriotic. But I ask a simple question: What heritage are we celebrating when the very land that gave us that heritage is being destroyed?

Our water bodies, the Pra, the Ankobra, the Birim, and the Offin, are no longer blue. They are brown, poisoned with mercury and cyanide from galamsey. Our forest reserves, which once protected our rainfall, our wildlife, and our future, are being cut down and dug up daily.

What is the value of putting a hero on a cedi note when the rivers that hero drank from are destroyed? What is the value of printing culture on money when the land that produced that culture is being sold to destruction?

This is the contradiction of our time. We print heritage on paper, but we destroy heritage in reality.

A true heritage is not in the wallet. It is in the forest that still stands. It is in the river that still flows clean. It is in the farmland that still feeds our children. If we lose those, no new cedi note, however beautiful, can bring them back.

The government must understand that Ghanaians do not eat symbols. We drink water. We breathe air from our forests. We farm on our land. If galamsey continues to destroy our water and forests, then the heritage cedi notes will only become a painful reminder of what we once had and lost.

Let us be honest: We cannot celebrate heritage while we watch it die.

If we truly love our heritage, let us protect it where it matters most, not on paper, but on the ground.

Stop the pollution. Save our rivers. Save our forests. Then the heritage on our cedi notes will have true meaning.

Shalom!

About the Author

Abdulai Abdul Razak is a columnist and youth activist based in the Tamale South Constituency. He writes on governance, environmental protection, youth development, and national affairs.