Now I wonder and doubt if it has ever been seriously considered if these systems could have still been enough minus the "malpractices" that formed a component but not the whole.

What malpractices are u refering to?
Circum,sacrifices,polygamy,abandoning the sick in the forest,what exactly?
If they did away with all those then what would have been left, since they formed the core around which the community existed?All these things were intertwined and they gave life to the community.
Besides those'malpractices' are what identified one community from another and made them unique.Something they were very proud of.
Of course everything seemed right then because there was nothing for comparison.
But now that we are enlightened, we can look back and assume that some stuff ought not to have been practiced.
That would have resulted in nothing but a shell of a community.

Was it possible to modify the ancient systems instead of replacing them completely?
Which systems?you have to be specific to answer this well.
You realise that each community had its own system.
For example polygamy hasn't been modified.Infact what we call modification has turned immoral and corrupt.
Religion has changed from sacrificial to mpesa pap.Its business nothing godly.
Instead of polygamy we have embraced gayism and lesbianism and chips funga.
Is that the better option?

Could the systems not have been reformed?
Reformed has taken a whole new meaning and become worse and poisonous.

Did African Religions need to be entirely substituted?
But subsituted with what? mpesa religion?
There was nothing wrong with african religion the only thing was that witchcraft was involved in some cases.
Offering sacrifices was okay since they believed in a higher power whose history they just didn't know.
Most important thing to do is get rid of unpalatable systems like fgm, and stick to what is moral and applicable to the modern times.
Don't throw baby with water.


Was our best bet at “salvation” only via an imported system(s)?
You call it imported? well christianity calls it spreading the gospel far and wide.