Former Upper East Regional Minister and senior member of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) Prof. Ephraim Avea Nsoh has criticized the Mahama administration for not renaming the country’s main airport after its first President, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah.
Prof. Avea Nsoh said, while he is happy the country finally dropped the name of Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, whom he accused of thwarting the country’s strive for self-reliance, the facility should have been renamed after the country’s first President.
He believes the Mahama administration chose a neutral name for the airport for fear of a backlash from particularly the New Patriotic Party, who are descendants of the main opposition during Kwame Nkrumah’s reign.
But that, he argued, is cowardly and does not uphold the legacy of the Ghanaian leader adjudged the African of the millennium.
“I feel so much ashamed, because why would we put it in Accra? The man created that place, makes sure it is what it is, and now this is the time to show him to the outside world, the point of entry, the place that we communicate with the world. This is where Nkrumah should have been standing; broad and big.”
According to him, Nkrumah’s transformative legacy cuts across the continent and Ghana must lead in honouring and preserving his lasting legacy.
“I don’t know what we are afraid of. It’s the same thing that we have behaving in other places as NDC people. Because we think that if you put Nkrumah’s name, then NPP complain, people complain. Let them complain,” he stated.
“Nkrumah is above all of us. Nkrumah, as I said, is a world figure. He’s an African figure. He’s not a Ghanaian figure. So that’s my only disappointment, even though I’m excited about the change.”
Prof. Avea Nsoh was speaking on the renaming of the Kotoka International Airport to Accra International Airport.
The proposal to rename the airport sparked public debate with critics arguing that the move was unnecessary and costly.
But the government defended the decision, saying it was not a renaming but a reversal to the airport’s original name, which it argued, carries cultural and geographical significance.
