THE Bank of Uganda is to conduct an opinion poll on whether to have a 1000-shilling coin, or whether to keep the old notes.

Coins are cheaper for the central bank in the long run because they don’t disintegrate like paper money.

But coins may be resisted by Ugandans who think they appear cheap compared to paper money.

Many countries have coins with a high value. The one pound coin in the UK is worth around 3200 shillings and is virtually identical to the Ugandan 500 shilling coin.

Value is in the eye of the beholder. Ugandans will soon get used to high value coins. Let’s get rid of the dirty, tatty and unhygienic 1000 shilling notes.