Ghana’s first president planned to name the airport after Yaa Asantewaa
While the debate over whether Kotoka International Airport should be renamed continues, there is an untold story about how the airport was nearly named after Yaa Asantewaa.
According to renowned Ghanaian historian Anokye Yaw Frimpong, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was in the process of naming Ghana’s first and most important airport after the legendary Ashanti warrior queen.
However, political disputes, internal rifts, and a coup d’état prevented the idea from ever coming to fruition.
This is the story of how Kotoka International Airport almost had a different name.
Read the full story frist published on GhanaWeb on March 1, 2025
Amid the ongoing discussions about the christening of Ghana’s main airport after Lieutenant General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, who was the brain behind the 1966 coup d’état that overthrew the Nkrumah government, it has emerged that Ghana’s first president planned to name the airport after Yaa Asantewaa, the Asante queen renowned for her bravery.
According to historian Yaw Anokye, Dr Kwame Nkrumah had already reached out to the king of Asanteman, seeking their approval to name Ghana’s main airport after Yaa Asantewaa.
However, the well-documented rift between Kwame Nkrumah and the Ashanti chiefdom at the time prevented the lofty and genuine idea of Kwame Nkrumah from coming to fruition.
Anokye Yaw Frimpong, in an interview with GTV in 2023, explained that the chiefs rejected Nkrumah’s request on the grounds that the leadership of Asanteman at the time belonged to the United Party (UP) and that if Yaa Asantewaa were alive, she would have belonged to the UP.
Since the UP at the time was seen as a bitter rival to the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Yaa Asantewaa, as per the reasoning of the chiefs, would not have allowed the CPP government to name a monument after her.
“After independence, Kwame Nkrumah called the Asante chiefs and was prepared to name the international airport after her. The chiefs went and returned to tell Nkrumah that Ghana had split between the United Party and the Convention People’s Party.
“Nkrumah is a CPP man, so he should go round when he finds a CPP woman, he can name the airport or anything after her because, if Yaa Asantewaa had been alive, she would have been a UP member,” he narrated. Publications by other historians indicate that Kwame Nkrumah was adamant that naming the airport after Yaa Asantewaa was the right thing to do and made moves to get the blessing of Asanteman to name the airport after her until the overthrow of his government on February 24, 1966.
Who is Yaa Asantewaa
Yaa Asantewaa was the Queen Mother of Ejisu in the then Asante empire. She was appointed by her brother Nana Akwasi Afrane Okese, the Edwesuhene, or ruler, of Edwesu.
In 1900, she led the Ashanti war, also known as the War of the Golden Stool or the Yaa Asantewaa War of Independence, against the British Empire.
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