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President John Mills has been judged by the East African Magazine as one of the best leaders on the continent. In the latest edition (February 6-12, 2012) of its annual African Leadership Scorecard which measures the performance of a president in the areas of governance, democracy, press freedom, corruption and human development in the past year, President Mills was awarded grade A with a score of 70.1% for his performance as a leader in 2011. The Ghanaian leader obtained the same grade in 2010. The analysis compares and takes a weighted average score of five respected international indices of governance, (the Mo Ibrahim Index, Democracy Index, Press Freedom Index, Corruption Perception Index, and Human Development Index) as well as its own Nation Media Group (NMG) Index and arrives at a final grade point for the leader. A score of: � 70-100 percent is equivalent to grade A; � 60-70 percent is grade B; � 50-60 percent is grade C; � 45-50 percent is grade D; � 40-45 percent is grade F; � 30-40 percent is Intensive Care Unit (ICU); and � 0-30 percent is Morgue. This means the country is dead and in a morgue. The best governors placed closest to 100, and the worst closes to 0. The magazine explained that the �scorecard heavily rewards consistency. If an African leader scores very highly in one or two areas, and very poorly in the rest, he/she will end up with a dismal overall grade. A consistent score across the board on the other hand, will place him or her highly in the overall rankings.� Except the Mauritian leader Navinchandra Ramgoolam who obtained a lower grade (A) than the previous year (A+), the leaders of Botswana, Cape Verde and Ghana obtained the same grade as in the year before. Some observers say it reflects consistency in performance. According to the magazine, the Ghanaian leader�s successes could be attributed to strong economic growth. The authors of the report say �A visiting International Monetary Fund team projected that Ghana�s economy was expected to be the fastest growing in the world for 2011. Like elsewhere in Africa, China�s project funding to the nation has been on the rise � a $13 billion infrastructure loan from China was announced. However, this hasn�t affected the nation�s integrity as it continues to crack down on Chinese individuals engaging in illegal mining activities.� The authors further stated that �in an effort to improve the socio-economic wellbeing of the citizenry, Ghana rolled out an ICT training programme for approximately 5,000 people living with disabilities.� The magazine reported that �despite high growth, there was agitation for better pay that swept the country in the last few months of the year (2011). One of the worst incidents was the doctor�s strike, which caused massive disruption of health service delivery and forced Mills to cancel a trip to the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting in Australia.� Ghana obtained the following scores in the various governance indices for the year 2011: � Mo Ibrahim Index: 66.0 (7/53); � Democracy Index: 6.02 (upgraded from hybrid regimes to the flawed democracy category); � Press Freedom Index: 26 (free) � Corruption Index: 3.9 (69/183) � Human Development Index: 0.541 � NMG Grade: 9/10 These led to the final weighted average score of 70.1 and a grade of A for the year 2011. According to the report, some seven countries such as Egypt, Senegal, Comoros, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Guinea, and Morocco, obtained grade F; eleven countries including Libya, Cote dIvoire, Togo and Cameroon are in intensive care while other twelve countries including Angola, Gambia, Equitorial Guinea and Sudan are completely dead and in the morgue. Recent developments in the domestic political environment in Ghana including high fuel prices and a judgement debt payments scandal which resulted in the dismissal of a serving Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Martin Amidu for misconduct at a meeting and the resignation of the former Attorney General and later Education Minister, Betty Mould Iddrisu (Mrs) from the cabinet, threaten to negatively affect the image and the credibility of President Mills and the ruling National Democratic Congress. The opposition New Patriotic Party believes the scandal is a reflection in the President Mills-led government; an allegation strongly denied by the government. According to a Deputy Information Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the arrest of the key recipient of the controversial judgment debt payments and his alleged accomplices, is just the first of a series of actions the president has ordered in order to fully resolve the matter. Supporters of the president believe that his government will come out clean. The latest Economic and Intelligence Unit�s political forecast on Ghana concludes that the payments scandal is likely to cast a slur on the fortunes of the ruling party at the general elections in December 2012 but indicated that favourable economic growth and low level of inflation could play to the advantage of President Mills and the ruling NDC party, in what is predicted to be another closely contested election.