Malawi's Central Bank has to compensate girls for photographs

Ombudsman Enock Chibwana ordered the central bank to compensate the girls with US$250 each, including interest for 10 years.

The bank, however, told the ombudsman hearing that they already paid US$50 each to the girls following an earlier determination by the ombudsman that the bank pays the girls any agreeable amount of money in US dollars. The bank's representative went on to say, however, that its agent who took the photos paid the wrong people.

“Reserve Bank is willing to honour the earlier determination by paying the girls US$100 with interest,” said the bank representative, known only as Malitoni.

The ombudsman however dismissed the central bank's plea.

During the public enquiry, the father to one of the girls Joseph Funsani testified that the Reserve Bank of Malawi took advantage of the girls.

The three girls, Josephine Funsani, Ester Kayira and Fairness Ng'oma now in their early 20s were aged between 10 and 12 when their photographs were used. They said that while coming from their primary school in Lilongwe in January 1997, a car stopped, two men got out and asked to photograph them saying they would print them on a primary school textbook. They girls were surprised some time later to see themselves on the K10 banknote.

The Reserve Bank is progressively replacing the K10 banknote with a K10 coin that came into circulation in 2005.