Ellen Ama Daaku (L) says Jerry John Rawlings’s (R) name will be removed becasue he also led a coup
New Patriotic Party (NPP) communicator, Ellen Ama Daaku, has criticised the plan by the government to change the name of Ghana’s main international airport, from its current name, Kotoka International Airport (KIA), to the Accra International Airport (AIA).
According to Accra-based Angle FM, Ama Daaku threatened that her party, when in government, would also rename national monuments named after the founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the late former president Jerry John Rawlings.
She said that the next NPP government will rename any national edifice named after the first president of the 4th Republic of Ghana, the late Jerry John Rawlings, because he also led a coup, like the late Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka.
“Next NPP administration will also remove Jerry Rawlings’ name from any national monument named after him because he’s also a coup maker,” Ellen Ama Daaku is reported to have said in a newscard shared by Angle FM.
The Kotoka International Airport, Ghana’s main point of entry and exit to the world, is named after a very controversial figure, Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, who was the mastermind of the coup d’état which ousted Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
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 of 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 the renaming the airport.
Ayikoi Otoo lobbies for KIA to be renamed after a Ga icon
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