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Introduction
The Ghanaian government wants to rename the country’s major international airport, Kotoka International Airport, to reflect the land’s ownership.
The Majority Leader of the country’s Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, and the Transport Minister, Joseph Bukari Nikpe, have announced that the government will revert the airport’s name to its original, Accra International Airport.
“We are changing the name of our airport from Kotoka International Airport to Accra International Airport. A bill will be brought by the Minister for Transport for the name to be changed,” he said.
History of Kotoka International Airport
Ghana’s international airport began as a military airfield constructed by the British Royal Air Force during World War II in 1946. After nearly a decade, the British government transferred the airport to civilian authorities in Ghana following the war. Under President Kwame Nkrumah’s leadership, the airport was redesigned into a terminal building, paving the way for its commercialisation in 1958.
The airport was named Accra Airport, and upon attaining international status, its name was changed to Accra International Airport immediately after the country attained total independence from British rule.
However, the government of President Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown on February 24, 1966, by the National Liberation Council (NLC), which included Lieutenant General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka among its leaders, citing military discontent and public dissatisfaction.
The coup d’état, christened “Operation Cold Chop,” was carried out while the country’s first President was on a peace mission to Hanoi at the invitation of Premier Ho Chi Minh.
Accra Airport retained its name until it was renamed after Lt. General E.K. Kotoka in 1969, following his death in an attempted coup by some junior officers code-named “Guitar boy.” The military government enacted the General Kotoka Trust Decree, 1969 (NLCD 339), setting up a trust in honour of their fallen hero.
Paragraph 8(1)(a) of NLCD 339, sub-headed “Objects of Trust” provides for the:
“The renaming of the Accra International Airport— “Kotoka International Airport” after the late Lt.-Gen. Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, without any financial charge being placed on the trust fund.”
General Kotoka was the NLC member responsible for defence, health, labour, and social welfare when he died.
Here’s a picture of the Accra Airport in 1958. Photo credit: Ghana Museums
Advocacy for the renaming of Kotoka International Airport
Public advocacy to remove Kotoka’s name from the country’s international airport dates back.
Ace Ghanaian journalist Kwesi Pratt has said the campaign to rename Kotoka International Airport began in the 1980s.
“The agitation for the change of name of the Kotoka International Airport has a long history. It began in the 1960s and was initially led by figures such as Kwame Hanson, Dr. Lutterodt, and others. Over the years, the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) called for a name change. The Convention People’s Party (CPP) has always insisted that the name should change,” he said at minutes 4:04 to 4:42 of the YouTube video posted by Accra-based Metro TV on Feb. 4, 2026.
However, the recent conversation about the name change was fueled by a court case filed by the CPP and a youth-led group, Democracy Hub, at the country’s Supreme Court, challenging the constitutionality of the Kotoka International Airport.
A joint statement issued by the two organisations noted that “For 59 years, Ghana has lived with the contradiction of denouncing coups while honouring one of the architects of the first military overthrow of an elected government.”
According to them, “It is time for Ghana to make a clear statement that it stands against unconstitutional rule, not just in rhetoric but in practice.”
The raging debate over the name change
Opinions in the country are divided over the Ghanaian government’s decision to rename the nation’s international airport. While some individuals associated with President Nkrumah advocate removing Kotoka’s name from the airport, others believe the name should be retained to remind younger generations of the labours of independence.
Ayariga, the Member of Parliament for the Bawku Central Constituency, has said it was unfair for the international airport to be named after a non-indigene.
“It is not fair to the people of Accra. They gave their land for the airport, it was named after their city, and then it was changed to another name, even though the land did not come from there,” he said.
He explained that the decision to rename the airport is unrelated to the personality of Kotoka.
“This has nothing to do with his personality. I do not see a reason why an airport should not be named after him. The point is that when you remove a name that reflected where the land came from and replace it with another, it creates a cycle where names can be changed again in the future.”
According to him, “We are going back to using Accra as the name of the airport in recognition of the people who gave up their land.”
For political scientist and lecturer, Dr Kwame Asah-Asante, the name change was long overdue.
He told Accra-based TV3 that the events linked to the late Kotoka are “painful chapters in Ghana’s political history.”
“I think that it is long overdue because if you look at the story behind all these things, it is a very painful story. That is the place where Kotoka was killed and all that,” he said.
But Dr Nkrumah’s son, Sekou Nkrumah, has rejected the name change over the reason that Kotoka was a coup leader. He explained that there are other coup leaders whose names are on buildings and places.
“Now we need to know why the change. Is the government saying that because Kotoka was a coup maker, we don’t want anything named after any coup maker in Ghana? If that is the case, the Rawlings, Acheampong, and all the past heads of state who staged a coup and came to power should have nothing named after them. If that is the logic,” he said.
On his part, Prof. Stephen Kwaku Asare said the renewed call to rename the international airport has nothing to do with aviation, transport, or national branding.
“It is about how we choose to relate to our past; whether we engage it honestly, in all its complexity, or reduce it to slogans, moral shortcuts, and selective outrage,” he reacted on Facebook on Feb. 3, 2026.
He explained putting Kotoka’s name on the airport “records a moment of national turmoil rather than endorsing it, serving as a historical marker of our early post-independence instability, an act of remembrance, not celebration.”
Conclusion
It is yet unclear whether there are other reasons for reverting the name of Ghana’s International Airport beyond seeking to honour the original landowners, as cited by some government officials. However, the memorandum accompanying the bill may provide the reasons.
