By: Roberta Gayode Modin
Many Ghanaians have questioned the renaming of Ghana’s International Airport after Lieutenant-General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, a member of the National Liberation Council who overthrew Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, in a coup d’etat on February 24, 1966.
Adding his voice to the concern of many Ghanaians, Historian and Lawyer, Frimpong Anokye has proposed that the Kotoka International Airport be renamed after the warrior woman of valour, Yaa Asantewaa.
According to the historian, Lieutenant-General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka’s due honour should be at the baracks, calling on Ashanti chiefs to petition the government.
“The Ashantis should make a petition because I always stand by the fact that Kotoka was a hero alright… we have to give due honour to him, but we can honour him in the baracks but as for the airport that welcomes all visitors to the country, it should not be named after a politician,” he told Kafui Dey on the GTV Breakfast Show.
He also recounted how Ashanti chiefs turned down Nkrumah’s proposal to name the airport after Yaa Asantewaa in the past.
“After independence, Kwame Nkrumah called the Asante chiefs and was prepared to name the international airport after her. The chiefs went and returned to tell Nkrumah that Ghana had split between the United Party and the Convention People’s Party. Nkrumah is a CPP man, so he should go round when he finds a CPP woman, he can name the airport or anything after her because, if Yaa Asantewaa had been alive, she would have been a UP member,” he narrated.
Mr. Frimpong also commended GTV’s Kafui Dey for his interest and consistency in promoting Ghanaian history and called on Ghanaians to reward his effort.
