RJN's Statement on Renaming Ghana's airport

In February 2026, the government of Ghana renamed Ghana’s main international airport in Accra from Kotoka International Airport to Accra International Airport, its original name. The Racial Justice Network (RJN) – UK applauded this move. However, this should only be the first move. The Government of Ghana should go further and rename it Kwame Nkrumah International Airport. The announcement was significant in that it was made during the 60th anniversary of the overthrow of Ghana's first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who initially commissioned the airport.

Such a move would honour not only the proud history and patriotic legacy of Kwame Nkrumah, but also his lifelong commitment to liberating Ghana and Africa from the shackles of neo-colonialism and imperialism. Naming a country’s international gateway after a national icon of liberation is a mark of pride and reverence.

Across Africa, several nations have taken this path. South Africa’s main airport in Johannesburg is named after Oliver Tambo. Tanzania honours Julius Nyerere with its international airport in Dar es Salaam. Namibia’s international airport in Windhoek bears the name of Hosea Kutako. Most recently, Burkina Faso renamed its international airport in Ouagadougou after Thomas Sankara. It would be fitting for Ghana, a nation at the forefront of Africa’s liberation struggle, to do the same.

Previously naming Ghana’s principal airport after Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka reflected what the late Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o described as a “normalised abnormality.” During his UK speaking tour (4–16 October 2023), hosted by the Racial Justice Network (RJN), Ngũgĩ elaborated on how certain false narratives become so deeply embedded in society that they appear normal. In a subsequent article co-written with Ghanaian writer Paa-Kwesi Hagan, Ngũgĩ highlighted the contradiction of naming Ghana’s main airport after General Kotoka, who led the 1966 coup that overthrew Nkrumah. At the time of the coup, Nkrumah was in China expressing solidarity with Vietnam during the war against American imperialist intervention. Kotoka was killed the following year during a failed counter-coup attempt, and the military government renamed the airport in his honour in 1969, portraying him as a liberator from what they regarded as Nkrumah’s authoritarian rule.

Renaming the airport Kwame Nkrumah International Airport would:

Honour African leaders committed to the liberation of their countries and Africa from neo-colonialism and imperialism.

Reassert Africa’s socio-economic, political, and cultural transformation based on self-reliance and self-determination.

Reinforce calls for a borderless, united Africa and visa-free movement for all Africans, echoing Nkrumah’s vision in Africa Must Unite: One Africa, One Destiny.

Remove from national symbols and monuments the names of individuals associated with the betrayal of liberation struggles in Africa.

We hope that renaming Ghana’s main airport to Accra International Airport marks not merely a correction of historical distortions, but the beginning of a deeper restoration of patriotic ideals and revolutionary visions in Africa.