Oh my children, the beloved children of Africa,
I mama Africa I am not the least happy with what I am seeing
War, famine, poverty and migration.
I gave you the gifts of nature
Land, huge and fertile
Abundant resources and talents
To utilise and become developed
But where are you, my children to tend our fauna and flora.
You refuse to till the land where you belong
But your sweat now waters the fields in countries far away.
You’ve migrated and left the gates open to intruders
Who have emptied the wells once full of diamonds, gold and silver
Just like their ancestors who took away our strong ones for their good.
They have chained our neck to control our thinking
They have chained our waist to control our movement
They have chained our feet to control our destiny
They poisoned our minds
And created mistrust, hatred, jealousy and division among us.
My children where are you to defend our borders,
regions, continent and integrity?
Remember Africa must be liberated by the Africans
We are the masters of our own destiny.
It pains me when I see my sons and daughters
Shooting, killing, butchering and slaughtering their fellow Africans.
Sons and daughters of Africa put down the weapons
Stop the fighting based on religion, tribe and ethnicity
Let us create a strong neighbourhood
Let us cement regional integration
Which will pave the way for the unity of Africa.
Let us say no to outside dictatorship
Let us say no to outside Imposture
Let us say no to outside Interference
And collectively, let us work with respect and dignity.
Remember being black does not mean backwardness
Neither does being poor mean powerless.
My children, day and night I weep for
the lost and lonely in a foreign land
Those too ashamed to return home
I weep for those who have been swallowed up by the waves
Those buried in the wilderness
before reaching the so called promise land
Breathing their last breathe with no final rites administered
And no head stones to mark their places of rest
Where they are and who they are no one will ever know.
Sons and daughters outside the boundaries of your origin
I yearn for your return, come home
your mama beckons you, your mama loves you
Come, let us build an African free from tears and fears
An Africa where no-one dies of starvation or bullet wounds
An Africa where no one goes to bed hungry
Come and join your brothers and sisters develop the continent
For the harvest is in excess while the labourers are few.
We can attain our dreams, visions and mission
If we Africans be our brothers and sisters keepers
People of Africa, the black race of our universe
The development, peace and progress of Africa
Depends on its leaders and its very own people
We can do it, let’s do it today for tomorrow might be too late.
Long live Senegambia integration
Long live Ecowas
Long live African Unity
God bless Africa, great heroes of Africa we salute you.
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