Parliament is set to consider a bill that would rename Kotoka International Airport back to Accra International Airport. The government says the move is meant to honour the people of Accra, whose lands were used to build the facility. Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga revealed that the Minister for Transport will present the bill this session, emphasising that the current name does not reflect the community’s sacrifices. At a media briefing on February 3, 2026, Mr. Ayariga described the situation as unfair: “The people of Accra gave their land for the airport.
It was originally named after their city, but later changed to another name, even though the land did not come from there.” The airport was originally known as Accra International Airport when it opened in 1958. In 1969, the name was changed to Kotoka International Airport in honour of Lieutenant General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, a member of the National Liberation Council (NLC) who was killed at the airport area during an abortive coup attempt on April 17, 1967.
Mr Ayariga said the proposed change would address what he described as a historical wrong. “We are going back to using Accra as the name of the airport in recognition of the people who gave up their land,” he said.
He stressed that the proposal was not meant to question or erase the legacy of Lieutenant General Kotoka. “This has nothing to do with his personality. I do not see a reason why an airport should not be named after him. The point is that when you remove a name that reflected where the land came from and replace it with another, it creates a cycle where names can be changed again in the future,” he explained. Mr Ayariga added that the intention was to recognise the people of Accra who sacrificed their lands for the development of the capital city. The Minister of Transport is expected to lay the Bill before Parliament during the current eight-week session.
Kotoka International Airport handled a record 3.1 million passengers in 2023 and remains the country’s only international airport. The naming of the airport has long been a subject of public debate, with some critics arguing that a facility developed during the era of Dr Kwame Nkrumah should not bear the name of a figure associated with the 1966 coup.
Source: Mohammed Ali
