Tamale Airport Name Under Review, NDC’s Hamza Suhuyini Gives Insight: “They Ignored Our Proposal”
- The Tamale International Airport could also be renamed, according to a member of the National Democratic Congress communications team
- The Tamale International Airport was renamed as the Yakubu Tali International Airport by the Akufo-Addo administration in 2024
- Yakubu Tali is a founding member of the New Patriotic Party, of which then-President Nana Akufo-Addo belonged
A member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) communications team, Hamza Suhuyini, has disclosed that the party intends to review the renaming of Tamale International Airport.
The airport is currently named after Yakubu Tali International Airport, a founding member of the New Patriotic Party.
Source: Facebook
On Channel One TV, Suhuyini said the NDC had originally proposed naming the airport Gbewaa International Airport.
But the Akufo-Addo administration went the partisan route with the naming of the airport.
“The NPP named the Tamale airport after one of its foundational members, Yakubu Tali, who is a sub-chief of the Ya Naa. We argued then that if the renaming was truly to honour the people of the North, it would have been better to name it Gbewaa International Airport, because people from the Northern, North East, and Upper East Regions all identify with Gbewaa as a common ancestor.”
He further revealed that the NDC administration is reconsidering the decision.
The Yakubu Tali International Airport, located in the Northern Region, is one of the three international airports in Ghana.
Plan to rename Kotoka International Airport
Suhuyini’s comments come shortly after the Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, announced government plans to rename Kotoka International Airport to Accra International Airport.
The proposed renaming follows years of calls by sections of the public and civil society groups.
Critics had said the current name did not reflect Ghana’s democratic values because it honoured Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, one of the key figures involved in the 1966 coup that overthrew Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah.
Democracy Hub and the Convention People’s Party, the political organisation Nkrumah founded, had sued at the Supreme Court to remove “Kotoka” from the airport.
Tamale Airport gets international status
The second phase of the Tamale International Airport was completed and commissioned on August 23, 2023.
The expansion project cost $70 million and was facilitated by the UK-Ghana Business Council.
Recent works undertaken at the Tamale airport included a 5,000-square-metre airport terminal building.
It is expected to have 400,000 passengers pass through annually.
Source: Facebook
It also has a technical hub to manage electricity, a multi-purpose terminal, a five-kilometre single-carriageway access road, a 330-capacity car park, wastewater treatment, and other facilities.
The new terminal building also includes two boarding gates, a VIP gate, two self-service check-in kiosks, airline offices, eight check-in desks and commercial retail areas.
Then-Vice President Bawumia said the development of the airport will boost Tamale as a business hub.
$20.9m tax waiver for the second phase of Tamale Airport
In October 2022, YEN.com.gh reported that Members of Parliament expressed their support for constructing the second phase of the Tamale Airport.
The lawmakers approved the Ghana cedi equivalent of $20,953,066.69 to purchase materials, equipment and vehicles for work to begin.
Source: YEN.com.gh
