Ghana’s government has removed the name of a coup leader, who helped overthrow founding father Kwame Nkrumah exactly 60 years ago, from the country’s main airport.
Kotoka International Airport will now be known as Accra International Airport, its original name. But the move has not been without controversy.
Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka was among a group of officers who deposed Nkrumah in 1966. He himself was killed at the airport the following year during a failed counter-coup attempt.
The military government then renamed it in 1969 in his honour, portraying him as a “liberator” from what they saw as Nkrumah’s authoritarian rule. But some argued his name contradicts Ghana’s democratic values.
The transport ministry said the government “considered it appropriate” to restore the earlier name. Critics of the move, including Kotoka’s family, said it erased his legacy and service.
Transport Minister Joseph Bukari Nikpe has been quoted in local media as saying that the change was aimed at projecting a neutral national image and reflecting the name of the capital city, Accra.
But some have questioned the cost and asked why issues like unemployment and living conditions are not more of a priority for the government.
In arguing for the move, some civil society groups said that honouring Kotoka fundamentally contradicted the country’s democratic values and glorified an unconstitutional change of government.
This view has gained traction under current President John Mahama, who returned to power after the December 2024 election, and the debate has intensified over the past month.
Among those who have opposed the name change is parliament’s minority leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who called it a betrayal of the Volta Region, Kotoka’s home.
He argued that the name was one of the few national honours recognising the eastern region.
The discussions have spilled over to social media, with Ghanaians divided over the legal, social and political implications of changing the airport’s name.
But in its statement on Monday, the transport ministry called on the public and international partners to support and co-operate with the relevant authorities to ensure what it described as a “smooth and seamless transition”.
The authorities have assured the public that the name change will not affect airport operations, safety standards or international travel.
In the build up to the 1966 coup, Nkrumah had faced criticism that he was becoming increasingly oppressive.
Historians have debated the role the West, particularly the US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), played in unseating Ghana’s first president.
As well as leading Ghana to independence in 1957, Nkrumah was seen as a visionary in the pan-African liberation movement.
After his overthrow, Ghanaians lived through several coups up until the return of multiparty democracy in 1992.
Since then there has been a series of closely fought elections and peaceful transfers of power.
