National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has revisited the widely discussed incident in which he wore his wife’s coat during an official trip to Germany with President John Dramani Mahama in 2015.
According to the NDC chairman, his decision to wear the coat was simply practical, as his priority at the time was to protect himself from the cold weather rather than worry about whether the outfit was traditionally considered suitable for a man.
Speaking in an interview on Onua TV on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, while celebrating his wife, Vida Adomah Nketiah, on her birthday, Asiedu Nketiah recalled the incident and explained his reasoning.
He said he was in Germany for official duties and discussions, not a fashion competition, stressing that the purpose of the trip mattered more to him than his appearance.
“Today is my wife Vida’s birthday, and if you remember, it was her coat that I wore some time ago. If you are going to a place where it is cold and you have been given something to clothe yourself with, is that the time you have to consider whether it belongs to a lady or not?” he said.
He added: “So, for me, going to Germany to pay a visit to Angela Merkel, she didn’t say I should come there for a beauty contest. We went there for brainwork.”
The incident dates back to January 2015, when Asiedu Nketiah was photographed wearing a camel-coloured, fur-trimmed coat while in Germany.
The image attracted significant attention in Ghana, with some politicians and social media users mocking his choice of outfit.
Asiedu Nketiah, however, noted that the reaction was largely from people in Ghana, claiming that nobody in Germany raised concerns about the coat.
At the time, an NPP politician also criticised the outfit, using it to argue that the then Mahama administration was “totally confused.”
Years later, Asiedu Nketiah appears unfazed by the controversy, maintaining that staying warm during the trip was more important to him than the gender of the person the coat belonged to.
