JOHN KUFUOR

AGE: 69
OCCUPATION: President of Ghana
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 0

PRO: Having effected the first bloodless power transfer in Ghana since independence, Kufuor has the political capital to call Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe "embarrassing" and weigh in on Kenya's political unrest.

CON: For every Kufuor in Africa, it seems there are six Mugabes. Ghana's peace and relative prosperity don't seem to be having a steady domino effect on its neighbors.