Today, February 24, 2025, Ghana weeps silently—59 years since a coup tore its soul apart. Two men stand as shadows in this tale: Jacob Wilson Sey, a forgotten colossus who cradled our land, and Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, the soldier who plunged it into darkness. One built Ghana with gold and grit; the other broke it with bullets and betrayal. As Kotoka’s name still scars our gateway—Kotoka International Airport—it’s time to unearth Sey’s light and ask: why do we honor a traitor when a hero lies buried?
Jacob Wilson Sey: The Gold of West Africa’s Spirit
Picture a boy in 1832 Asafura-Biriwa, tapping palm wine under a relentless sun. Jacob Kwaw Wilson Sey—“Kwaa Bonyi”—was no prince, just a carpenter’s son with calloused hands and no alphabet to his name. Yet fate smiled: gold nuggets glinted in a forest, turning a coffin maker into Ghana’s first multi-millionaire. Born March 10, 1832, Sey saw wealth not as a throne but a tool. In 1897, when Britain’s Crown Lands Bill loomed to steal Gold Coast soil, Sey acted. He founded the Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society (ARPS), pouring his fortune into a fight for his people—and beyond.
Imagine the scene: August 1898, Sey’s chartered ship Alba docks in London, carrying Ghanaian chiefs to face Queen Victoria. Illiterate but indomitable, Sey funded their voices, and the bill crumbled—land saved not just for Ghana, but for Nigeria and Sierra Leone too. This wasn’t a mere victory; it was a shield for West Africa, a spark for independence across borders, decades before 1957. He built parks in Cape Coast, schools for the poor, and stood by exiled chiefs, a quiet titan who died May 22, 1902, at 70. His grave whispers a truth we’ve forgotten: Ghana—and its neighbors—thrive when their sons give, not take.
Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka: The Blade of 1966
Now picture a different dawn—February 24, 1966. Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, born October 26, 1926, in Alakple, Volta Region, wasn’t a pauper but a soldier polished by British training. That day, he led a coup against Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s heartbeat of independence. Tanks rolled, radio stations crackled—“The myth is broken”—and a nation orphaned itself. Foreign hands stirred the pot, yet Kotoka called it freedom. Within a year, he fell to a counter-coup’s bullet in 1967, but his name endured, branded on our airport like a scar that won’t fade.
What did Kotoka leave? No schools, no parks—just a legacy of division, economic ruin, and a people adrift. His coup wasn’t a spark; it was a sledgehammer, smashing Ghana’s fragile dawn.
A Mirror of Two Men
Let’s hold these lives side by side:
- Roots: Sey rose from nothing, a carpenter’s son turned savior. Kotoka climbed ranks, a soldier turned saboteur.
- Deeds: Sey spent millions to shield West Africa’s land; Kotoka spent lives to seize Ghana’s power.
- Impact: The ARPS birthed a movement—Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Ghana owe Sey’s gold their freedom’s roots. The 1966 coup birthed decades of tears—every struggle since echoes Kotoka’s shot.
- End: Sey died giving, mourned by a grateful few. Kotoka died taking, mourned by a fractured many.
Sey was Ghana’s rock, Kotoka its quake. One mended a region, the other mangled a nation.
Why We Cling to Shadows
Why does Kotoka’s name greet the world at Accra’s gates while Sey’s fades to dust? Is it the glamour of guns over the grind of sacrifice? The coup’s loud chaos drowned Sey’s silent triumph—a triumph that stretched from Accra to Lagos to Freetown—and we’ve lived upside down since, honoring a backstabber while a builder’s bones cry for justice. Every plane that lands at Kotoka International Airport carries Ghana’s shame; every takeoff, a plea to rewrite this wrong.
A Nation’s Tears Demand Action
Fifty-nine years ago, Ghana lost more than a leader—it lost its compass. Today, in 2025, the compound grief of that day plays out: a people weary, a spirit bent. Jacob Wilson Sey offers redemption—a name to lift us, not haunt us. Rename Kotoka to Accra International Airport, or dare we dream bigger: Jacob Wilson Sey International Airport? Join the cry—“Tears of 1966: Rename Kotoka to Accra International”—sign the petition today, February 24, 2025. Bury Kotoka’s ghost. Raise Sey’s glory. Ghana—and West Africa—deserve heroes who heal, not harm.