CRAB MENTALITY: Professor Quaynor Blames Disunity for Ghana’s Lost Internet Service Provider Opportunity

Internet pioneer Prof. Nii Narku Quaynor has blamed what he describes as Ghana’s “crab mentality” for the failure of locally owned internet service providers (ISPs) to build a united front strong enough to compete with major telecommunications companies.

Recalling a period when Ghana had more than 100 internet service providers, Prof. Quaynor suggested that the proliferation of small operators, each pursuing its own interests, weakened their collective position and left them vulnerable to larger competitors.

“Crab mentality. What’s wrong with you?” he said when asked why Ghana had so many ISPs at the time.

He explained that many operators appeared driven by the belief that they, too, could establish their own businesses, rather than joining forces with others.

“We all want a job. They say, ‘If Ghana man can do, me too I can do.’ We all spend money,” he said.

According to Prof. Quaynor, the telecommunications companies eventually entered the market and took advantage of the smaller providers’ inability to match their investment capacity.

“The telcos watched us and then they came and took it because the investment was beyond each one of us,” he said.

He believes the outcome might have been different if the ISPs had pooled their resources and worked together.

“If we had stayed together, maybe we would have been able to match them,” he added.

Crab mentality is commonly used to describe behaviour in which individuals undermine or fail to support one another, making it difficult for a group to advance collectively. In Prof. Quaynor’s account, the term captures the lack of cooperation among Ghana’s early internet service providers.