The talk of the town this week has been the submission by the Majority Leader of Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, regarding the renaming of Kotoka International Airport (KIA). 

He made that information public when he met the media earlier this week, ahead of the first sitting of the second session of Parliament.

According to the Leader, plans are in place to introduce a Bill in Parliament this session to that effect, and the proposed Bill aims to restore the airport’s original name to recognise residents of Accra whose land was taken for the facility's construction decades ago. 

The name Kotoka International Airport, as known for over half a century and named after Lieutenant General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, then Chief of Defence, will be renamed Accra International Airport.

Casting my mind back, it was in January 2014, that thoughts on this same topic of re-naming or otherwise, of the KIA came to mind, and I wrote an article to that effect for this Column in the Daily Graphic. 

In that article entitled: “TRANSFORMING KIA - MUST WIN FOR 2014: KIA NEEDS A MAKEOVER”, I broached the topic of changing the name of Kotoka International Airport once the airport has been renovated to international eminence.

In the article published 12 years ago, which discussed our country's sluggishness in upgrading our international airport to a modern standard, I argued that 2014 was the year for a comprehensive rehabilitation of our airport.

As planned, the makeover occurred a little over a year after my publication.  By the end of 2015, Ghana was just months away from opening a modern airport, but without a name change.

In the said article on transforming KIA, I made reference to a conversation on the meaning of “Kotoka” to a foreign visitor who sat next to me in an aircraft from the United Kingdom (UK) for his first-ever business meeting in Ghana.  

Kotoka

To answer his question directly, I told him that I did not know the meaning of “Kotoka”, but I knew it was the name of an Army Lieutenant General who was killed in an abortive coup.  The incident occurred at a location at the airport where, at the time, his statue was on display.

His interest was piqued, and he was pressing for more information.  Perhaps what saved me at the time from disclosing too much information to a first-time visitor to Ghana was a distraction from a crew member.  The break was most welcome, and we never went back to discuss the abortive coup and Lt. General Kotok’s role.

Name change

In the article in question, I called for a makeover at KIA and also suggested a name change to complete the renovation. I believed then that if the airport was being brought up to modern international standards, the history behind the name was, in my view, somewhat out of step with progress and therefore detracting from our path to national development.

I consequently put out some suggestions and said if we must use the name Kotoka after the renovations, “we were to consider naming the space which at the time was being used as the meet and greet or arrivals for the airport. The reason was that, from stories heard at the time, that area was part of the forecourt where Lt. General Kotoka was killed in the abortive coup.

The article further suggested that, since the airport has multiple car parks and roads, we could name them after the fallen army General, while we embarked on a national search for an appropriate name for the international airport.

Those were my thoughts, as far back as 2014, regarding a name change for KIA. 

It is no coincidence that exactly 12 years later, a name change for KIA has become a national discussion.  While some nationals oppose a name change, others believe that removing the name would erase part of the nation’s history.

Our minds at this stage in our history, and as we progress, an economic reset to benefit the majority, maybe the debate should rather be centred on the question: will renaming KIA benefit the nation, vis-à-vis the cost that we are likely to incur in the process? 

Could we not use the funds involved in such a project to benefit the majority by investing in social projects in health and education, for example?

A name change for KIA might be desirable, but at this stage of resetting our economy, it may not be beneficial.

Perhaps it is a question of balancing our priorities.

*******

The writer can be contacted via email at vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com