Showbiz personality Kwaku Sintim-Misa has described the naming of an international airport in Ghana’s capital, Accra after Lieutenant- General Emmanuel Kotoka as disgraceful.
Kotoka, who was born on 26th September 1926 was a member of the National Liberation Council which came to power through a military coup d’état on the 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 millitary airport used by the British Royal Airforce during the 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 this project set the stage for Ghana Airways to use the airport as its base in 1958.
The airport was originally designed and commissioned to accommodate a maximum of five hundred thousand (500,000) passengers annually. In 1969, the Accra International Airport was renamed Kotoka International Airport in memory of the late Lt. General E. K. Kotoka.
In a tweet on January 1, 2023, KSM said he wished the name was changed.
“At the risk of angering many, my wish is to see the name Kotoka removed from the airport. It’s a disgrace to our history. Happy new year”, KSM tweeted.
Source: ghanaweb.com
