Kotoka Name On Airport to Go Off

Government has announced plans to rename Ghana’s main international gateway, Kotoka International Airport (KIA), to Accra International Airport.

A bill to effect the change is expected to be laid before Parliament soon by the Minister for Transport for consideration and approval.

Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, disclosed this on Tuesday while briefing journalists ahead of the resumption of the Ninth Parliament.

“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 stated.

He explained that the proposed renaming forms part of a broader set of legislative priorities to be presented when Parliament reconvenes.

The move follows years of public debate and growing calls for the airport’s name to be changed. Critics argue that Ghana’s principal entry point to the world should not be named after a soldier linked to the 1966 coup that toppled the country’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

Background

The airport was originally established as a military facility by the British Royal Air Force during World War II before being transferred to civilian authorities. In 1956, under President Kwame Nkrumah, work began to convert the facility into a modern civilian airport.

The project was completed in 1958, transforming the former military base into a civilian airport with an annual capacity of about 500,000 passengers. It was initially named Accra International Airport.

In 1969, the facility was renamed Kotoka International Airport in honour of Lieutenant General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka (1926–1967), a member of the National Liberation Council who was killed during an abortive coup attempt at a location that now forms part of the airport’s forecourt.