"...From now on, we must change our attitudes and our minds..." Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah made this declaration on the eve of 6th March, 1957 at the Old Polo Grounds as part of his Independence Declaration. Mental and Attitudinal Change is a dual change in the life of an individual. This personal or individual change deals with the mindset and attitude of an individual.

Economic Prosperity is the socioeconomic state of living the best of life. I therefore conclude that Mental and Attitudinal Change among Ghanaians is the power of Economic Prosperity in Ghana. Moreover, the nature of Ghana's widespread economic hardships makes it imperative for us to personally or individually change our mindsets and attitudes which are crude in nature.

I am already aware that all Ghanaians know this call, but not all of us understand and appreciate it, not to even talk of doing it. Therefore, this Mental and Attitudinal Change has five sequential stages according to my personal theory called "THE AKBUAH THEORY OF MENTAL AND ATTITUDINAL CHANGE." And these stages are the Knowledge Stage, the Understanding Stage, the Appreciation Stage, the Action Stage and the Effect Stage. The following are the details of each stage in a sequential order:

(1)Knowledge Stage: All other Ghanaians and I have completed this fist stage to a large extent. This is the stage where every Ghanaian knows that he/she must change his/her mentality and attitude towards the things of Ghana. We all primarily know mental and attitudinal change by PERSONAL CONVICTION and secondarily by Mental and Attitudinal Change calls or advocacies. Also, the fact that we all have knowledge of Mental and Attitudinal Change does not and cannot make it work automatically.

That is why we are not collectively producing widespread economic prosperity in our dear country. Therefore, I say that any knowledge devoid of its corresponding action is empty, just as faith without works is dead (James 2:26). So we should work on the proceeding stages since we are all largely done with this first stage, the Knowledge Stage.

(2)Understanding Stage: I have personally completed this second stage to a large extent. This second stage is all about knowing the MEANING of Mental and Attitudinal Change as the next step beyond our mere knowledge of Mental and Attitudinal Change. This is where we get to know that Mental and Attitudinal Change in its real form is a great factor in Economic Prosperity for all of us. Also, we need to remember that Mental and Attitudinal Change is a PERSONAL or INDIVIDUAL initiative. Moreover, we get to know that we do not just get up to change our crude mindsets and attitudes personally or individually, but we must FAITHFULLY go through all the five stages.

(3)Appreciation Stage: I have also personally completed this third stage to a large extent. Writing this article is a better proof of my completion of these three stages. This is the stage where we VALUE the significance of Mental and Attitudinal Change with the aim of moving forward to act in change.

Also, at this third stage, one realizes that all public strategies to help in creating Economic Prosperity primarily hinge on one thing, Mental and Attitudinal Change. Yes, that is it! For example, a public authority can freely distribute dustbins in a community, but the community folk can still throw rubbish away anywhere.

(4)Action Stage: Most Ghanaians including me have not reached or completed this fourth stage. This is the fourth stage and the final stage on the part of the individual. However, it is the most difficult stage because it requires that we GRADUALLY stop some crude habits of ours which are our second nature. As the saying goes: "habit is second nature." But thank God we have PERSEVERANCE and WISDOM which would conquer the difficulty if we truly use them! Let us also understand that perseverance is human and wisdom is divine, therefore, when perseverance or "humanity" and wisdom or "divinity" work in sync, PERFECT RESULTS are achieved. Moreover, I have an experience concerning this fourth stage to share with you. I recently instructed myself not to drop any litter when I am outside home. I started well by following the instruction but I began to fail by dropping litter in town involuntarily, and I finally gave up. However, I now realize that my failure was caused by the lack of or inadequacy of perseverance and wisdom in my personal commitment. We therefore have to sacrifice "precious" and permanent things concerning our crude habits in a very determined way consistently. And complement it with wisdom by doing what the Book of Proverbs and other wisdom books in the Holy Bible say and wise traditions of our land concerning behaviour and character, personally or individually as per our various strengths and weaknesses.

(5)Effect Stage: This is the fifth and last stage and nothing much can be said about it. This is because after we have faithfully and successfully completed the preceding four stages, changes would start occurring in our personal or individual lives, social systems and structures and economy as a whole. And if we get many and even most Ghanaians faithfully and successfully completing the preceding four stages which complement our national strategies, we would start experiencing economic prosperity, that is, living the best of life socioeconomically.