Kwaku Darko Ankrah, a historian, has backed calls for the removal of Lieutenant-General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka’s name from Ghana’s international airport.
He says maintaining Kotoka’s name on the Airport implies an endorsement of the coup d’etat made by the late military officer which is an affront to the democratic principles of the state.
His position comes on back of a lawsuit at the Supreme Court by Democracy Hub and the Convention People’s Party (CPP) calling for the name “Kotoka” to be stripped from the Airport.
Kotoka was the key figure behind the 1996 coup d’etat that saw the overthrow of Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, an act which contravenes the provision in the 1992 Constitution.
In a statement issued by Democracy Hub Monday, February 24, 2025, it indicated that maintaining the name is a sanction of the act undertaken in 1966.
They are calling for the Airport to be renamed to reaffirm the nation’s commitment to democratic governance.
But according to Ankrah, the historian, landmarks are named after state figures who have made significant contributions towards the development of the nation.
“I think it’s something that should be pursued. Naming of monuments is about things people have done.
“We give honour, and respect, we show that the nation is grateful. When people are writing history and somebody is honoured, the term used is that a grateful nation honoured him with the Order of Volta etc.
“Anything that is contrary to something good done for a nation, people will see it as wrong. The people who advocate for the naming of Kotoka International Airport, they are looking at the manner of death that Kotoka suffered around that vicinity,” he said on Accra-based Channel One TV.
He further bemoaned the failure of successive governments to change the name of the airport, overlooking the deeper historical implications of keeping Kotoka’s legacy tied to a key national landmark such as the nation’s international airport.
Name Ghana’s international airport after Kwame Nkrumah – NDC’s PRO Forum
