The family of Dr Letitia Obeng says she, not flag designer Theodosia Okoh, is pictured on the new GH¢50 note.

Published 13 Nov 2026, 14:11 GMT

3 min read

Dr Letitia Obeng (centre) cutting a ribbon, in a photo published by the International Water Management Institute — Dr Letitia Obeng, centre. Photo published by IWMI in its 2023 tribute

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The face on the new GH¢50 note belongs to his mother, pioneering scientist Dr Letitia Obeng, Professor Eddie Obeng says — not his aunt Theodosia Okoh.

Obeng, a management expert, wrote on LinkedIn that he was already drafting a congratulatory note to a cousin about his aunt’s honour when he examined the note closely.

“Imagine my surprise when I took a look and realised that they have used a picture of my mother instead, she’s famous for being the country’s first lady PhD,” he wrote.

He ended the post with “You can’t make it up,” adding that he had “a wry smile on my face that won’t go away, and occasionally I shake my head or giggle.”

By the family’s account, Dr Obeng was the sister of Theodosia Okoh, who designed Ghana’s national flag — the woman the note was meant to honour, as set out in 3News’ earlier report on the portrait row.

The Bank of Ghana says the portrait is an engraved artwork, not a straight photograph, made to satisfy the exacting technical demands of printing banknotes.

It says three genuine photographs of Mrs Okoh — two from her youth and one from later life — went into depicting her as a mature woman. It adds that it is talking to the family to explain the work and settle the matter.

Bank board member Beatrice Annan posted the same explanation on Facebook on Thursday, November 12. President John Dramani Mahama launched the Heritage Series the same day.

Dr Obeng died on 23 March 2023, aged 98. She was the first Ghanaian woman to earn a degree in zoology and the first to be awarded a doctorate, according to the Commonwealth Human Ecology Council.

She earned her bachelor’s and master’s at the University of Birmingham, then a 1964 PhD at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where her subject was the black fly behind river blindness, the International Water Management Institute records.

She later directed the Institute of Aquatic Biology from 1965 to 1974, served as a senior programme officer with the UN Environment Programme, and chaired the Global Water Partnership from 2008 to 2012.

The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences made her a Fellow, and she served as its president in 2007–2008.

The GH¢50 note is one of the Heritage Series banknotes unveiled on November 12, due to enter circulation on December 1. In the accounts published so far, the family attributes the face to Dr Obeng while the Bank attributes it to Mrs Okoh, and the row is unresolved.

Araba IncoomAraba Incoom writes on multiple topics with a vast knowledge across different sector. You can almost call me an AI, after all, my initials are Araba Incoom.

Dr Letitia Obeng: the pioneering scientist her son says is on the GH¢50 note

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