City of Gary Gives Ghana 25 computers

GARY, USA — Making good on a promise, the city of Gary delivered 25 computers Friday to a delegation visiting from Ghana.

“That’s what they asked for. We were going to auction them off tomorrow,” Mayor Rudy Clay said during an afternoon news conference and reception for the 11-member delegation promoting trade development in Africa and the United States.

The city has ordered 50 new computers that the mayor hopes will help establish good will. To accentuate the occasion’s importance, Clay was draped in traditional Ghanaian outerwear, a gift from Osei Kofi Abiri, king of the town of Kenyasi in the Brong-Ahafo region.

The king wants to see trade with Gary go well immediately. He had members of his delegation share their thoughts while sitting in a circle that included the mayor, Venus Cobb, executive director of Indiana Minority Enterprise Center, and other local business leaders.

J. Allen Johnson, executive director of the Race Relations Council, said he would like to see a long-term relationship develop and not simply lip service, an idea that seemed to appeal to members of the delegation.

Sandra Dafieghor, chairman of the International Trade Subcommittee for the Indiana Minority Enterprise Center, was among those in attendance. She said shopkeepers who specialize in African foods have to go all the way to Chicago to restock their store. She hopes to change that.

“Gary has had a foreign trade zone but it’s not active,” Dafieghor said. “We want to expand it. It would become a hub of sorts. They have African grocery stores all over Chicago.”

Adrian Keys owns and operates New Generations World Market in Calumet City, Ill.

“I have customers that come from as far as Fort Wayne, Ind., that come to my store to buy these goods,” Keys said. “Now if we can get a supply store locally we can buy in bulk and drive down the price.”

The DataMine Corp. already makes Web pages for companies in Ghana. Ron Gholson, senior business development manager, said their prices were so reasonable the delegation from Ghana couldn’t believe it.

“We are small districts, but we are expanding,” Charles Yeboah said. “The mining activities leave a small amount of land. We have to make good use of the land we have left.”

Yeboah served as the delegation’s mining and environmental chairman, but is a member of the finance administration in Ghana, he said.

Friday’s meeting was a continuation of meetings held last year to explore combined global opportunities.