Renowned legal scholar Professor Kwaku Asare, popularly known as Kwaku Azar, has warned that the government’s plan to rename Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to Accra International Airport risks erasing important lessons from Ghana’s history.
In a post shared by on Facebook on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, he said that for over 60 years, the name of the airport has symbolised the country's political turbulence, coups and unrest, noting that the debate of renaming it has been oversimplified.
"The appeal of the simplistic claim that the airport’s name exists to celebrate the 1966 coup rests on an incomplete reading of history. The renaming of KIA was not intended to glorify the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah," he wrote.
Kotoka International Airport to be changed to Accra International Airport
He explained that the 1969 renaming of KIA was not meant to glorify the 1966 coup but to honour Lt General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, who was killed during Operation Guitar Boy in 1967 while resisting a counter-coup.
“The airport was renamed to mark the site of Kotoka’s death, not to glorify military intervention in politics. It records a moment of national turmoil rather than endorsing it—an act of remembrance, not celebration,” Prof Asare said.
Revert Kotoka International Airport to its original name – Kwame Nkrumah's daughter
The government has announced plans to rename Ghana’s international airport from Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to Accra International Airport.
The announcement was made at a leadership media briefing ahead of the resumption of the Ninth Parliament on Tuesday, February 3, 2026.
Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga said the change would be carried out through legislation to be presented to Parliament by the Minister for Transport.
Read his post below:
JKB/AE
#TrendingGH: Watch some Ghanaians react to proposed renaming of Kotoka International Airport:
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