Kenya has released new bank notes and coins with their public circulation to begin on Wednesday. The new currency also sports a new feature – the absence of any portraits of a person.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, who presided over the launch of the new currency in Nairobi on Tuesday, termed the move a major milestone in the country’s history and in the fulfillment of the 2010 constitutional requirements, the East African reported

“I am extremely pleased that today we can achieve yet another milestone, launching the family of new generation coins. They honour the wishes of the people of Kenya in regard to their national currency as expressed in the constitution,” he said.

Kenya’s Central Bank was mandated by the constitution in 2010 to spearhead the production and roll-out of the new currency. The constitution is also behind the prohibition of the use of portraits of people on the new currency. Notes currently in circulation have the images of first President Jomo Kenyatta and his successor Daniel arap Moi.

The new currency is also designed to enable the visually-impaired to identity the different currency. The Sh5 coin will bear the image of a rhino, Sh10 coin the image of a lion, while the Sh20 coin bears the image of an elephant.

According to Kenyatta the new currency presents a unique way of celebrating the East African’s country’s culture and history.

British security printing firm De La Rue International won the tender to print the new look currency at a cost of $150-million but the process had been delayed by court cases.