Kumasi Airport Named After Prempeh I

 

PRESIDENT NANA Akufo-Addo has honoured the memories of the late Asantehene, Otumfuo Agyeman Prempeh I, and Yakubu Tali, who was a Paramount Chief of Tolon Traditional Area.

He honoured the two personalities by naming the Kumasi International Airport, which is nearing completion, after the late Asante King, and also named the Tamale International Airport after Yakubu Tali, of blessed memories.

The President made the historic announcement during his last State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament yesterday.

“The Kumasi Airport should be renamed Nana Agyeman Prempeh I; Tamale Airport to be called Yakubu Tali Airport,” President Nana Akufo-Addo announced to his audience, who were mostly Members of Parliament (MPs).

K’si International Airport 

The Kumasi International Airport project, which is capital-intensive project, was started by President Akufo-Addo’s administration to help improve air travel and the aviation sector in the country.

Upon completion, the airport would provide both domestic and international services to its thousands of customers, thereby reducing the stress on the Kotoka International Airport, which is the official airport in the country.

Works being done at the airport include the extension of the runway to enable bigger aircraft to land and take off at the airport. A new and spacious terminal building and control tower, among others, have also been constructed.

Ideally, the completion date of the airport project has been delayed mainly due to financial constraints. The new Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, recently announced that the airport would finally be completed in two months’ time.

Why Prempeh I

If the government has decided to name the airport after Nana Agyeman Prempeh I, then it’s a step in the right direction, since he (Prempeh I) is one of the important monarch’s that the Asante Kingdom has produced during the kingdom’s four centuries of existence.

Nana Prempeh I was the 13th Asantehene and he ruled Asanteman from 1888 to 1931. During his reign, he led the Asantes to fight the British, who were determined to annex Asante to be part of its colonies.

During the famous wars, he was captured and taken to the Elmina Castle and later on to Sierra Leone by the British army, who were supported by some tribes in the then Gold Coast and parts of West Africa.

Later on, in 1900, Prempeh I and some prominent Asante Chiefs, who were captured during the war, were taken to the Seychelles Island, in the Indian Ocean, where he stayed for 24 years before he returned to the country in 1924.

K’si Praises Nana

Meanwhile, scores of people in Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region, have showered praises on President Akufo-Addo and his administration for recognising the importance of Prempeh I and deservedly honouring him by naming an airport after him.

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi

 

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