Kwame Nkrumah's ex-security chief questions purpose for naming airport after Kotoka

Major Agbeko Sedzifa (rtd), a former Head of Security to Ghana’s First President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, has joined critics who have expressed displeasure with the naming of Ghana's airport after Kotoka.

In a video interview shared on January 21, 2026, he said he “feels awkward” about Ghana’s main airport bearing the name of a military officer linked to a coup d’état.

Notable figures who have called for the renaming of Kotoka International Airport

He noted that he has never been comfortable with the association.

“I feel so bad about it. I feel so awkward about it. How can you make a coup maker the centerpiece of entry into Ghana?” he queried.

According to him, maintaining the current name sends the wrong signal about Ghana’s values and historical memory.

Major Sedzifa, who served closely with Dr Nkrumah prior to the 1966 overthrow of his government, stressed that his discomfort with the airport’s name dates back many years.

“So, that means we applaud coup making. For me, from day one, I have not been comfortable with it [naming of Kotoka International Airport],” he added.

His remarks come amid ongoing public debates over the naming of Kotoka International Airport after Lt Gen Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, a central figure in the 1966 coup that overthrew Nkrumah’s government.

Background of naming

The Kotoka International Airport was not originally named after LT Gen 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.

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.

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.

How and why Ghana's airport was named after Kotoka

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.

I feel so BAD and AWKWARD about it!

Major Sedziafa expresses disappointment about the name of Ghana’s International Airport.

Full interview here https://t.co/pgThccKej9#KafuiDeyInterviews pic.twitter.com/Z8yEWwdYum

— Kafui Dey (@KafuiDey) January 21, 2026