The government’s plans to rename Kotoka International Airport to Accra International Airport have been backed by the Minister of Transport, Joseph Bukari Nikpe, who maintains that the change is motivated by national identity and history rather than partisan politics.
The proposed renaming is part of a larger legislative agenda from the Ministry of Transport that will soon be presented to Parliament, Mr Nikpe stated during a working visit to the State Transport Company (STC) terminal in Accra amid conflicting public reactions.
The minister explained that the airport’s history dates back to the colonial era and that it was first built as a military installation before being converted into a civilian airport during Ghana’s first republic.
“We will remember that in the period of the Second World War around 1946, the British Royal Air Force used that place as an Air Force base to carry people to war and other activities. After that period somewhere in 1956 that facility was handed over to the civilian rule that was at the helm of affairs,” he said.
According to Mr Nikpe, it was Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who redeveloped the site into a civilian international airport, giving it a name that reflected the country’s capital and its historical significance.
“He revamped and redeveloped the air force base into a civilian passenger airport, the name International, and that name is of significance to us. People have accepted that Accra is our capital city, marketed rich culture and also locational identity that everybody in this world, especially in the West Africa subregion, knows,” he explained.
Addressing criticism that the renaming is politically motivated, the transport minister rejected the claim.
“We are not doing this with any political thinking. We are doing this to come from a very neutral point of view. Accra is our capital city, it is not anybody’s name,” he said.
Mr Nikpe added that the current name, which honours a key figure in the 1966 coup, does not reflect the values many Ghanaians wish to uphold.
“The fact that we had a name, it was changed to honour somebody in his role in the 1966 coup. We feel that that history is not what the Ghanaian would want,”he noted.
He concluded by emphasising the symbolic importance of restoring the airport’s original name.
“The fact that it had an original name and that name was when the first president gave that name to the airport, we should do that,” he said, adding that “Kwame Nkrumah himself in his grave will remember even if the spirit is anywhere and it is coming home, it will get to his original Accra International Airport.”
Transport Minister Joseph Bukari Nikpe says renaming Kotoka International Airport to Accra International Airport is not political but honors its original identity and promotes the capital’s city name.
The airport began as a WWII airforce base before becoming civilian pic.twitter.com/PqtgtqHF1Y
— ChannelOne TV (@Channel1TVGHA) February 4, 2026
NKONKONSA.com
