In much of Africa, the dominant frameworks for democracy, economics, and governance resemble hand-me-down clothes, like ill-fitting garments borrowed from older allies living in distant lands. Worn for decades, these models offer little pleasure: sometimes too tight, sometimes awkwardly loose, always slightly out of place. The assumption that old-world fixes can mend present-day fractures has shaped institutions and expectations, often leaving behind a legacy of persistent dysfunction and disappointment.