Africa has several problems that keep it from developing well (along its own paths).

Insufficient contact among African nations is one key problem (much traffic infrastructure such as railroads was built for overseas exports - orthogonal to the coastline - instead of for the connection of countries/then-colonies).

Another key problem is the lack of a middle class that could actually work out a path of development that works well.

Yet another key problem is the lack of an effective bureaucracy that can harness the workforce of the country.
(I read often of great unemployment and underemployment. This is essentially a waste of workforce. These people get fed anyway, with a bit more food they could be involved in productive projects (dams, irrigation systems, roads, buildings built with local materials, education, training and much more). The European model of a state fails so badly in Africa that they cannot even harness the country's workforce as well as ancient Egyptian Pharao's and Chinese emperors were able to.)


Western-style democracy isn't even close to perfection and doesn't need to be emulated - they might someday find and adopt a better model, at least a better one for themselves. Democracy needs to grow, it cannot simply be introduced. They need to develop the(ir) pillars of democracy, and that will likely involve the development of forms of democracy that suit their conditions.