Video of General Kotoka bronze statue set to be transported from London to Ghana pops up
- A video of Major General Kotoka's completed bronze statue to be transported from London to Ghana has surfaced on social media
- The rare video was shared by a popular Facebook page on their platform
- Major General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka came into Ghana's political spotlight when the National Liberation Council, a party he joined ousted the Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's government
- Kotoka was promoted to Major General and became a member of the ruling National Liberation Council
- On 17 April 1967, there was an abortive coup attempt involving junior officers which led to the killing of Kotoka
- The bronze statue was erected in his memory at the forecourt of the airport terminal building
A video of a bronze statue of Major General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka ready to be transported from South Kensington, London, to Ghana has surfaced on social media after it was shared by a popular Facebook page.
The statue designed to immortalize the late Ghanaian general was transported into the country in 1969, which was erected in his memory at the forecourt of the airport terminal building where his body was found after an abortive coup in 1967.
Born on September 26, 1926, Major General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka became a member of the ruling National Liberation Council which came to power in Ghana in a military coup d'état on February 24, 1966.
This overthrew the government of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of the republic of Ghana.
Emmanuel Kotoka was born at Alakple a village in the Keta district of the Volta Region of the Gold Coast, a former British colony.
He completed his basic education at the Alakple Roman Catholic School and later the Anloga Senior School in 1941. He started training as a goldsmith but switched to a career in the military.
In July 1947, he enlisted as a private in the Infantry School of the Gold Coast Regiment at Teshie in Accra.
He rose through the ranks, becoming a sergeant in 1948 and later Company Sergeant Major in 1951.
In 1952, he was among some West African soldiers selected for training at Eaton Hall Officer Cadet School in the United Kingdom.
In 1954, he was commissioned as a lieutenant and seconded to the British army on the Rhine.
On his return to the Gold Coast, then Ghana, to be made a Platoon Commander of the Second Gold Coast Regiment of Infantry.
Source: UGC
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Emmanuel Kotoka rose to become the Second-in-Command and in 1959 became the Platoon Commander with the rank of Captain.
He was promoted to the rank of Major later that year. In 1960, he attended the Company Commander's course at the School of Infantry in Warminster, England.
In 1960, he was the commander of D company of the detachment of the Second Battalion of the Ghana army which made up Ghana's contingent in the United Nations Operation in the Congo deployed in the capital, Leopoldville, now Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Emmanuel Kotoka was regarded as a national hero following this deployment. He was awarded the Ghana Service Order for Exceptional Bravery for Distinguished Service in the Congo in 1963.
He later became the Commander of the Second Infantry Brigade, which is now the Northern Command of the Ghana Army located in Kumasi.
In 1965, the then Lieutenant-Colonel Kotoka was transferred to Kumasi where he met and became friends with then Major Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa, an officer in the Second Brigade of the Ghana army.
The two are generally credited with being among the key conspirators behind the first bloody coup d'état in Ghana on February 24, 1966, which brought an end to the first republic. They codenamed it "Operation Cold Chop".
It was Kotoka who announced the coup to the nation early that morning from the Broadcasting House of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, the official radio station in Ghana.
The Central Intelligence Agency appears to have been aware about the plotting of the coup, at least a year ahead.
Kotoka was promoted Major General and became a member of the ruling National Liberation Council and also the Commissioner for Ministry of Health as well as General Officer Commanding the Ghana Armed Forces.
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On 17 April 1967, there was an abortive coup attempt involving junior officers of the reconnaissance regiment located at Ho in the Volta Region.
It was code named "Guitar-boy". It led to the killing of Kotoka by Lt. Moses Yeboah after heavy fighting.
Lt. Moses Yeboah and another colleague were later tried and executed by a military tribunal.
The Ghana International Airport was renamed Kotoka International Airport in his memory.
He was killed at a spot which is now part of the forecourt of the airport and his statue stands at that point.
A bronze statue of General Kotoka ready to be transported from South Kensington, London to Ghana in 1969 in his memory at the forecourt of the airport terminal building where his body was found after an abortive coup in 1967.
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Inspired by the Global Technology success stories, Mustapha Diyaol Haqq, a 19-year-old from Kumasi, Ghana, realized he too could deliver innovation where it was most needed, starting with his hometown.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
