By the time you read this piece, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf would have been a pensioner for at least a fortnight, having stepped down as Liberia’s President on January 22. The 79-year-old became Africa’s first elected female head of State in 2006 and went on to serve for a second and final six-year term from 2012.

So, how did she fare during her 12 years in office? If I were a schoolteacher and she were my pupil, I would give her a pass symbol – not an A, though.

Her greatest legacy is the restoration of peace to a country ravaged by an interminable civil war and other ills. She also consolidated democracy, with her handover of power to former football star George Weah being the first peaceful change of guard the country had witnessed since 1944. Further testament to the health of democracy in Liberia – the first African republic to proclaim independence, in 1847 – is that the election that propelled Weah to the Presidency featured a field of 20 candidates. They included baddies like warlord-turned-clergyman Prince Johnson. Those of us who follow developments on the African continent with more than a passing interest will recall the sordid video of him torturing former President Samuel Doe, which was released in 1990.

There were no reports of violence or electoral shenanigans whatsoever during campaigning for the October 10 election. Ditto the subsequent run-off election (Weah failed to garner enough votes to secure an outright victory and had to face off against former Vice President Joseph Boakai in a two-horse race that determined the eventual winner).

Johnson Sirleaf inherited a country wrecked by decades of dictatorship and civil war. Its infrastructure was decimated and half its citizens were displaced, either internally or in other countries in the region. Its coffers were virtually empty. By many accounts, when she took over the reins, the Liberian Treasury had a paltry $80-million to its name.

On the strength of her impressive record – including stints as a high-ranking executive at Citibank, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, as well as Finance Minister in her native country from 1979 to 1980 – benefactors in the West fell over themselves in pouring much-needed development assistance into the country. Soon, a sizeable number of international investors would make a beeline for the West African country, with the main target sectors being rubber and iron-ore. As commodity prices soared, Liberia’s fortunes soared too – from 2011 to 2013, its gross domestic product expanded by upwards of 8% a year.

Johnson Sirleaf’s hard work to secure peace in her country, promote economic and social development and strengthen the position of women did not go unnoticed by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which named her a joint laureate for 2011. The other laureates were her compatriot, Leymah Gbowee, who organised women to bring an end to the war in the country and ensure their participation in elections, and Yemen’s Tawakkul Karman, who played a leading role in the struggle for women’s rights and for democracy in her country before and during the Arab Spring.

I will be the first to admit that Johnson Sirleaf had a couple of blots on her copybook, the biggest of which was appointing three of her sons and one of her sisters to key positions in her administration and in parastatals. An incessant drumbeat of corruption allegations against bureaucrats in her administration did not help matters.

The most devastating blow to Johnson Sirleaf’s reputation, however, was delivered by events she could not control: the collapse of commodity prices in 2014, which slashed government revenue in 2015 by 12%, and the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic, which killed about 5 000. Owing to these phenomena, international and local companies scaled back or closed shop, while the economy shrank by 0.5% in 2016.

It is thus unsurprising that unemployment remains unacceptably high, especially among the youth, who comprise the bedrock of Weah’s support base. One hopes that he replicates his wizardry on the football field as he goes about steering Liberia out of its quagmire.