Former Member of Parliament for Sefwi-Wiawso, Dr. Yaw Kwaku Afriyie has renewed calls for the renaming of Kotoka International Airport, arguing that retaining the name sends the wrong message to future generations about Ghana’s democratic values.
Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen show, Dr. Afriyie said naming the country’s main international airport after General Emmanuel Kotoka, a key figure in the 1966 coup that overthrew Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, risks normalising military takeovers in the minds of young people.
“If we keep naming our airport after Kotoka, the man who overthrew Africa’s greatest leader, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, our children will grow up thinking that staging a coup is an acceptable achievement,” he warned.
Tracing the history of the facility, Dr. Afriyie noted that it was originally a British Royal Air Force base before Dr. Nkrumah transformed it into Accra International Airport in the early 1950s.
According to him, the renaming to Kotoka International Airport followed the 1966 coup and the establishment of the General Kotoka Trust Fund by the National Liberation Council in 1969 to honour the late soldier.
Dr. Afriyie described the situation as contradictory, pointing out that while Dr. Nkrumah continues to receive posthumous honours, the airport he built bears the name of one of the architects of his overthrow.
He maintained that changing the name of the airport would correct what he described as an “embarrassing national contradiction” and help reinforce democratic ideals for future generations.
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