Paul Adom-Otchere (L) says Kwame Nkrumah was a ‘despot’ before his overthrow
Renowned broadcaster Paul Adom-Otchere has criticised the announced plan by the government to rename the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to Accra International Airport (AIA).
Speaking during a panel discussion on JoyNews’ NewFile, he said that the move was being masterminded by a group of individuals who want to paint Ghana’s first president as a saint in the eyes of Ghanaians, which he indicated was far from the truth.
He said that the planned removal of the name of Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, after whom the airport was named, forms part of a plan to “restore Nkrumah’s image 100%” before the 60th anniversary of his coup, which falls on February 24, 2026.
“This Kotoka’s name on an important edifice like the airport is the remaining last leg of the nemesis of Nkrumah that must be taken away because they have been able to establish Nkrumah as the hero and the 100% hero since the BBC issue.
“Now, what we have been pointing out is that they started by arguing that Kotoka is a coup maker, and then that argument appears to be shifting. If you listen to Ambassador Kwesi Pratt, he was concerned that Mahama Ayariga (the Majority Leader) is turning this whole thing into a tribal matter… It’s not about a tribal matter. It is about removing the image of some coup maker,” he said.
The broadcaster asserted that the people of Ghana must know that their first president did some very bad things, which forced Kotoka to overthrow him.
“What we would like Ghanaians to see. And at the end of the day, the government will make its decision, and then we will have to decide whether it’s a political decision that we vote on the next time or whatever we do.
“But we cannot ignore history. We have to make obeisance to history. The history is that from 1960 up to the time Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966, he was a despot. He was not good for Ghana. He was terrible for Ghana,” he said.
The Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, while addressing journalists at the first sitting of the Second Session of the 9th Parliament on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, announced the government’s plans to change the name of Kotoka International Airport.
He stated that a bill will soon be laid before Parliament by the Minister for Transport to rename the country’s main international airport from Kotoka International Airport to 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 to facilitate this change. The Accra International Airport Bill will also come,” he said.
The announcement has divided the public, with a faction stating that the renaming is apt because the airport should not be named after the person who led the overthrow of the country’s first president.
The rest have argued that there is no need for renaming the airport.
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#TrendingGH: Watch some Ghanaians react to proposed renaming of Kotoka International Airport:
