Justice Abdulai is a Ghanaian lawyer
The gateway to Ghana since independence has been the uncomfortable Kotoka International Airport. It is indeed too uncomfortable, and sometimes nauseating, to call the only, first, and biggest airport in Ghana “Kotoka”. Those who know the name clearly appreciate why the urgent need to change was decades ago, certainly not today.
The advocacy for the urgent need to change the name of the airport reached its crescendo in the last few weeks. Luckily for the great people of Ghana, the government has heeded the call, and steps are already underway to ensure the change in the name to Accra International Airport, arguably a more befitting name.
Unfortunately, some elements within the New Patriotic Party, particularly the Minority Leader and some members of Parliament on the minority side, are ridiculing this laudable decision of the government.
Coincidentally, these persons are rather young in the NPP, and clearly display disappointing signs of weakness in their appreciation of the principles and values of the Party they profess to serve. They demonstrate such immaturity and little understanding of the underlying principles and core values of the NPP.
I strongly urge them to read some of the cases the NPP and its stalwarts pursued in the Supreme Court in the advancement of our democracy to re-educate themselves.
The NPP tradition, as I understand it, does not support, glorify, and promote constitutional overthrow. Thus, no attempt to name our national monuments, as significant as our airport, on a couple of markers should be encouraged.
Clearly, if the mindset of the minority leader and those in his support were to glorify coup makers by naming national monuments after them, they have serious issues to deal with in nation-building.
We must rather commend President Mahama and the National Democratic Congress for their leadership and decisive action to save us from this embarrassment of glorifying constitutional overthrow. Let us celebrate our heroes, certainly not those who send us back on the constitutional timelines.
Source:
www.ghanaweb.com
