Kotoka International Airport name unchanged until Parliament approves renaming Bill

Kotoka International Airport remains the legal name of Ghana’s main international airport, the Attorney-General has told the Supreme Court.

The government says its decision to rename the facility Accra International Airport has not yet taken legal effect because the Bill required to formalise the change has not been passed by Parliament.

The position was set out in the government’s response to a case brought by legal practitioner Austin Kwabena Brako-Powers, who is challenging the proposed renaming.

Brako-Powers is asking the Supreme Court to rule that the decision was unconstitutional because the government did not first amend the General Kotoka Trust Decree, 1969 (NLCD 339). The decree established a trust in honour of the late Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka.

The Attorney-General argues that the decree remains in force and that the government has not acted in breach of it.

In an affidavit sworn by Assistant State Attorney Mamavi Owusu-Aboagye, the government said announcing the proposed name did not itself alter the airport’s legal identity.

It pointed to Exhibit AG8, which lists several outstanding measures needed to complete the process. These include changes to statutory instruments, official records, signs, digital platforms and aviation publications.

That list, the affidavit argues, shows that the renaming has not yet taken effect in law.

The government said the Accra International Airport Bill, 2026, had completed the Cabinet stage, been signed by the Minister of Transport and was ready to be presented to Parliament.

“The General Kotoka Trust Decree, 1969 (NLCD 339) remains fully intact and operative as part of the laws of Ghana. The Airport’s legal name under Ghanaian law continues to be Kotoka International Airport,” the affidavit stated.

The Attorney-General also rejected any suggestion that the government had interfered with the Kotoka Trust, saying no beneficiary had been deprived of any entitlement under it.

According to the filing, a draft of the Bill was sent to the Ministry of Transport on August 21, 2025, for onward transmission to Cabinet. The Ministry requested Cabinet approval on November 10, 2025, and that approval was granted on December 9, 2025.

The decision was conveyed to the Attorney-General on January 23, 2026, before the Minister for Transport signed the Bill on February 10, 2026.

The government is also disputing the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction to hear the case. It argues that Brako-Powers has not raised a genuine constitutional issue, but is instead alleging a possible breach of NLCD 339, which is a statute rather than part of the Constitution.

The Attorney-General further says the action is premature because Parliament has not yet considered the Bill.

“For this Court to grant the injunctive reliefs sought by the Plaintiff would be for the judiciary to arrest a legislative process at the very threshold of Parliament,” the Attorney-General argued.

The case remains pending.