Ghana's gateway to the world should reflect our founding ideals, not a coup era – Odarteifio

Convener of the campaign to rename Kotoka International Airport (KIA), Steven Nhyira Odarteifio, has argued that beyond a successful military career, Lt-Gen Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka is not widely associated with major national development projects in Ghana’s public record.

Addressing the media on January 19, 2026, during an advocacy campaign calling for the renaming of the airport, Odarteifio said Ghana’s main international gateway should embody the nation’s founding ideals and collective conscience, rather than reflect its coup-era past.

He recalled that Lt-Gen Kotoka was killed in April 1967 at the then Accra International Airport during a failed countercoup known as Operation Guitar Boy.

Kotoka had been a key figure in the 1966 coup that overthrew Ghana’s first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

According to Odarteifio, following Kotoka’s death, his associates and fellow conspirators chose to immortalise him by renaming the country’s main airport in his honour.

Kotoka International Airport should be renamed Ghana Airport – Richard Sumah

“Ghana’s gateway to the world ended up carrying the name of a coup-era figure, rather than a name that represents Ghana’s founding story,” he stated.

He stressed that the issue goes beyond partisan politics, describing it as a matter tied to the nation’s deeper identity and moral compass.

“Some things are bigger than politics. Some things sit deeper than policy. Some things live in the spirit of a nation. And when the spirit of a nation is unsettled, no amount of development, no number of roads, no new jobs, no new buildings can fully quiet the unease,” he indicated.

The campaigners insist that renaming the airport would be a symbolic step toward aligning Ghana’s national symbols with its democratic values and historical foundations.

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