The Off-brand African

What gives you the right to be African and hopeful?

Are you lost? Were you born yesterday?

Stick to the memo, read the headlines

You’re to be seen, not heard,

Your problems debated in boardrooms across the Atlantic,

Solutions aired at the next summit.

Kyogamba tokimanyi?

For us, they dream for us, and tell us what they saw later!

Leka nawe…

Go back to what we know of you.

Starving babies,

Perpetually outstretched hands,

Poor infrastructure...ebyo

Totutiisatisa with all your hustle,

Stick to the memo!

Who told you Africans get to be talented, brilliant, influential…in Africa?

Unheard of! Preposterous! Hell freezing over and all that.

Are you saying you didn’t get the memo?

The beautiful ones are the other side!

The clever ones,

The driven ones,

The strong ones,

And here you are, going against the grain.

Influencing, inspiring, mobilizing.

Are you confused? Does a dog try to be a lion?

Leka nawe, sigala mu lane yo.

Stick to what you’ve been told,

Totutiisatisa with all your potential,

Stick to the memo!