A senior lecturer at Garden City University, Dr. Samuel Owusu, has described the government’s plan to rename the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) as unnecessary and wasteful.
His criticism follows an announcement by the Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, indicating that a bill will soon be laid before Parliament to rename Ghana’s main international airport from “Kotoka International Airport” to “Accra International Airport.”
The proposal, according to Mr. Ayariga, forms part of the government’s efforts to align public facilities with national identity rather than individual legacies.
Speaking on the DayBreak Programme on Fakye TV, hosted by Kojo Marfo, Dr. Owusu argued that the initiative offers no meaningful benefit to the country and would instead impose additional financial burdens on the state.
“There’s no sense in it. In this country, we often take decisions that end up costing us more than they benefit us,” he said.
“Changing the name of the airport means we’ll have to make changes across all databases and materials related to aviation. It will be too expensive and unnecessary,” Dr. Owusu emphasized.
Dr. Owusu added that successive governments have shown a pattern of renaming public institutions rather than focusing on developmental priorities that yield tangible results.
“When governments come, they talk about renaming universities, and now airports but what has been the real benefit? These things do not add value to our national progress,” he questioned.
The Kotoka International Airport, named after Lieutenant General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, one of the key figures in Ghana’s 1966 coup has served as the country’s primary gateway to the world since its commissioning in 1969. The proposal to rename it has since stirred public debate about cost, historical legacy, and government priorities.
Source: www.Kumasimail.com
