The KIA began as a military airbase used by the British Royal Air Force
The Kotoka International Airport was not originally named after Lieutenant-General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka. Its naming followed political events that unfolded after Ghana’s first military coup in 1966.
The airport began as a military airbase used by the British Royal Air Force during World War II. After the war, it was handed over to civilian authorities.
In 1956, President Kwame Nkrumah initiated a project to convert the base into a modern civilian airport.
The facility was completed in 1958 and officially named Accra International Airport.
How can we honour an overthrow at the very door of the republic? – Odarteifio
Documents and publications sighted by GhanaWeb disclosed that on February 24, 1966, a group of military and police officers overthrew President Kwame Nkrumah’s government.
Lieutenant-General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka was one of the leading figures in the coup and became a member of the ruling National Liberation Council (NLC).
At the time, the coup was widely celebrated, and Kotoka and his colleagues were hailed by many as national liberators.
In April 1967, Kotoka was killed during an abortive counter-coup attempt by junior officers led by Lieutenants Samuel Arthur and Moses Yeboah.
He died at a location that later became part of the forecourt of the airport.
Ghana’s gateway to the world should reflect our founding ideals, not a coup era – Odarteifio
To honour Kotoka, the government passed the General Kotoka Trust Decree in 1969, which later became an Act in 1971.
One of the explicit objectives of the law was the renaming of Accra International Airport as Kotoka International Airport.
The Act also provided for land at the airport to be acquired for a statue and a memorial garden in his honour.
Following the decree, Accra International Airport was officially renamed Kotoka International Airport in 1969, cementing Kotoka’s status at the time as a national hero of the 1966 coup.
That is how Ghana’s main airport was named after a man who was once hailed as a liberator of the country from Kwame Nkrumah, but is now condemned as a puppet of supposed imperialist countries who wanted Nkrumah gone.
MRA/AE
Kotoka International Airport is not a name we should be proud to project – Odarteifio
