Kofi Iddie Adams

Kofi Iddie Adams is a Ghanaian politician who has been the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Buem in the Oti Region since January 2021. Parliament approved him as Minister for Sports and Recreation on 4 February 2025, and he was in charge of the portfolio as the Black Stars qualified for, and played at, the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Zoologist and teacher

Adams was born on 2 May 1975 and comes from Teteman in the Jasikan area of the Oti Region. He studied zoology at the University of Ghana, focusing on the epidemiology of parasitic diseases, and taught as a tutor at Adisadel College in Cape Coast.

Rawlings' spokesman and party organiser

His route into national politics ran through the office of former President Jerry John Rawlings, where he served as spokesperson and Director of Public Affairs. He then rose through the NDC. The party elected him National Organiser in December 2014, and he served on the 15-member team that coordinated its 2016 election campaign. He has also been a deputy general secretary of the party.

Buem

He entered Parliament in January 2021 after unseating the incumbent MP, Daniel Kosi Ashaimah, with 71.84 per cent of the vote. In the Eighth Parliament he sat on the Public Accounts Committee and the Defence and Interior Committee. He was re-elected in December 2024.

Sports minister

President John Mahama named Adams Minister for Sports and Recreation in his third batch of ministerial nominations in January 2025. At his vetting he promised more money for sport beyond football; he is a keen boxing fan.

Football still dominated his first year. After he took office, the Black Stars won five and drew one of their remaining six qualifiers to reach the 2026 World Cup, Ghana's fifth appearance. Adams credited the Presidency's backing, packed crowds at the Accra Sports Stadium and a change in how the team was rewarded: instead of match-by-match bonuses, rewards were tied to reaching the tournament.

At the finals in North America, Ghana drew 0-0 with England, lost 2-1 to Croatia and finished third in Group L with four points, enough to reach the new round of 32 as one of the best third-placed teams. It was their first knockout match at a World Cup since the 2010 quarter-final. Colombia won that game 1-0 in Kansas City on 4 July 2026.

World Cup visa scandal

After the tournament Adams faced the biggest controversy of his time in office. Reports alleged that about 90 people paid between US$10,000 and US$15,000 each for help obtaining US visas to watch the World Cup, through an arrangement linked to the National Sports Authority, the Ghana Tourism Authority and a private firm, TRIBE Culture Fest, and that only five obtained visas. The CID began investigating, and on 1 October 2026 President Mahama suspended NSA Director-General Yaw Ampofo Ankrah; Adams said Ankrah had been asked to step aside, not sacked.

The NPP, through its Communications Director Dennis Miracles Aboagye, demanded on 15 October that Parliament summon Adams, and Ranking Member Vincent Ekow Assafuah petitioned CHRAJ. Adams rejected calls for his dismissal. He said the payments were private transactions he knew nothing about, that he had warned Ghanaians not to pay agents, and that his ministry's only role was forwarding names to the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the US Embassy after a letter of 19 May. Former deputy sports minister Pius Hadzide argued that signed letters showed the ministry was more involved. No findings had been published by mid-October 2026.