How do you name an airport after a national traitor?

Veteran Ghanaian journalist Kwesi Pratt has joined the ongoing debates about the renaming of the Kotoka International Airport.

He believes that the active participation of Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka in the coup that toppled the Nkrumah government does not make him a good example of nationalism and patriotism.

In a panel discussion on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana Show, Kwesi Pratt opined that Gen. Kotoka’s actions and involvement in the coup are the reason Ghana has so many social and economic issues.

“How do you name an airport after Kotoka? How do you justify naming an airport after a national traitor?…What did he do? He participated in a plot by Western intelligence agencies headed by CIA to overthrow a popular democratically elected government of Ghana which was spearheading the African revolution.”

Kwesi Pratt further stated that the 1966 coup led to the abandonment of a number of projects that could have set Ghana on the path development.

“Today, if you look at agriculture, most of our crops suffer 30 percent post-harvest losses. This could easily have been cured using radiation. The equipment that were brought in to enable our scientists use radiation to minimize post-harvest losses were packaged and sold to the United States of America by these reckless persons who staged the 1966 coup and you want us to honour them?” He emphasized.

Born on 26th September 1926, Kotoka was a member of the National Liberation Council which came to power through a military coup d’état on 24th February 1966. This was the overthrow of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of the republic.

The existing airport, Kotoka International Airport, was originally a military airport used by the British Royal Air Force during World War II in 1946.

The facility was handed over to civilian authority after a successful pull-out by the military. In response to globalization and the growing demand for air travel at the time, a development project was launched to reconfigure the structure into a terminal building in 1956.

The completion of the project set the stage for Ghana Airways to use the airport as its base in 1958.

In 1969, the Accra International Airport was renamed Kotoka International Airport in memory of the late Lt. General E.K. Kotoka.

See the post below:

How do you name an airport after a national traitor?! – Angry Kwesi Pratt fumes over the naming of Kotoka Int’l Airport#GoodMorningGhana #MetroTV pic.twitter.com/y7QX1uQACl

— Metro TV Ghana (@metrotvgh) February 26, 2025

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