Gomoa Central Member of Parliament Kwame Asare Obeng, popularly known as A Plus, has criticized the honoring of Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka with Ghana’s main international airport, arguing the facility should be named after the man who built it, not the coup leader who overthrew him.
In a Facebook post monitored on Tuesday, the independent legislator described Kotoka’s role in the 1966 coup that toppled President Kwame Nkrumah as an act of national disruption rather than heroism.
“The 1966 coup was not just a political event; it was national trauma. Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka did not merely overthrow a man; he violently interrupted a carefully laid national project,” A Plus wrote.
The statement follows Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga’s announcement on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, that government plans to rename Kotoka International Airport as Accra International Airport through legislation to be brought before Parliament.
A Plus argued that Kotoka’s actions produced long-term consequences for Ghana, contributing to abandoned industries, weakened institutions, and lost opportunities for generations.
“In the court of history, Kotoka must be remembered for what his actions cost this nation. Not out of hatred, but out of truth,” he said.
The Gomoa Central legislator praised President John Dramani Mahama for supporting the renaming proposal.
“Thank you to John Dramani Mahama for applying simple, courageous common sense. For choosing truth over silence, history over convenience,” A Plus stated. “For understanding that a nation moves forward only when it stops honouring the very wound that bled it.”
Proposes Nkrumah Alternative
A Plus went further to propose that the airport should bear the name of Ghana’s first president, who transformed it from a British military facility into a modern civilian airport.
“If the airport must be named after a person, then it must be named after the man who built it, not the man who betrayed him. That man is Kwame Nkrumah,” he said.
The airport began as a military facility used by the British Royal Air Force during World War II. In 1956, President Nkrumah launched a development project that converted it into a civilian terminal building, which was completed in 1958 with capacity for 500,000 passengers annually. It was originally named Accra International Airport.
A Plus emphasized that Nkrumah built the airport as part of a larger vision for Ghana’s development.
“Nkrumah did it not for vanity. He did it because he believed Ghana would be a gateway to Africa, confident, industrial, and sovereign,” the MP explained. “That airport was part of a larger dream: factories working, skills developing, dignity through labour, and Ghana leading Africa with purpose.”
The legislator described naming the airport after the coup leader who overthrew Nkrumah as both illogical and cruel.
“To then name the very airport Nkrumah built after the man who overthrew him is not only wrong, it is cruel. It is illogical,” A Plus said. “You do not erase the builder and glorify the destroyer. You do not honour interruption over vision.”
Historical Context
Lieutenant General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka participated in the military coup that overthrew Nkrumah’s government on February 24, 1966, while the president was on a peace mission to Vietnam. Kotoka was killed on April 17, 1967, during an attempted counter-coup.
In 1969, the Accra International Airport was renamed Kotoka International Airport in his honor. The renaming has been controversial for decades, with critics arguing it is inappropriate to honor a coup leader who overthrew the democratically elected government.
Lands and Natural Resources Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah also expressed support for the renaming, describing it as a move toward neutrality, unity, and a forward-looking national identity.
A Plus, who won the Gomoa Central seat as an independent candidate in the December 2024 elections, has been a vocal advocate for accountability and transparency in governance.
