EAC Debunks False Claims: No New Currency 'Sheafra' as Imposter Account Misleads Public
The East African Community (EAC) has denied the existence of a new currency for the region after the fake account claimed to have unveiled it.
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By Seliphar Machoni
A verified X account claiming to belong to the “Government of East Africa is an imposter page.
The account (@eastafricagov) which was opened in October 2023 and has over 15, 000 followers and has “The Federal Republic of East Africa Government” has been misleading the public by posing as the main page of the East Africa Government page.
The imposter account on X
On March 6, the account shared pictures of a currency purportedly belonging to the non-existent East African Government.
The post which was reshared multiple times alleged that the East Africa region will use a unified currency called ‘Sheafra.’
The East African Community (EAC) has denied the existence of a new currency for the region after the fake account claimed to have unveiled it.
On Monday, March 4, the EAC Secretariat said that the process of achieving a single currency was still ongoing and urged the public and the EAC members at large to ignore the rumours on social media.
EAC statement on X
The fake account claiming to be the East African Government account and even has a grey check mark indicating that it was a government or a multilateral organisation, posted on Saturday the image of a 5 Sheafra note, with the caption “The East African Sheafra of SHF.5. Currency Note of fuv5 has finally Landed.”
The fake account went on explaining that the currency is meant to strengthen and boost the regional economy and that Sheafra would be worth $0.76.
The note was posted repeatedly with different captions, some claimed that the currency was'God's choice’ and the EA Members should ‘give God a chance to lead.’
The claims caught the attention of the EAC Secretariat who clarified that there was no such currency and that the account had no affiliation with the regional block.
“The EAC Secretariat wishes to inform all our stakeholders that the ‘Partner States’ trip to a single currency is still a work in progress. Kindly ignore any rumours circulating in social media on the unveiling of new banknotes for the region,” says the EAC in a statement on X.
The account emerged as X has introduced additional gold and grey check marks for verified organisations and government affiliated accounts.
The grey check marks shows that the account belongs or represents a government/multilateral organisation or a government/multilateral official page.
The EAC partner states are harmonising key policies and setting up the necessary institutions to achieve a single currency for the region by 2024 as outlined in the EAC Monetary Union Protocol.
The protocol envisages the establishment of the East African Monetary Institute (EAMI) by 2022, which would later become the East African Central Bank that would issue a single currency.
The main benefits of a monetary union are the reduction in transaction costs, savings in international reserves, the elimination of exchange rate risk and region wide price harmonisation.
