Shadreck Chikoti
In 2022, or maybe 2023, I watched a certain dance performed by women from Nsanje as they were welcoming their councillor. The song went, “akhansala mwaiwona boma, boma si ili” (councillors, have you seen the government, isn’t this the government?) The performance amused the onlookers because of how the women danced as they pointed to where the “government” was; right between their legs. I thought that was comical and metaphorical at the same time. We have different interpretations of boma according to needs and other complicated factors.
Since the song became popular, I wrote a Facebook post as a joke and satire saying, “boma ndi lomweli” (this is the government), hoping people would connect it to that Nsanje song.
After some time, I noticed several people using the phrase “boma ndi lomweli.” It caught my attention. So I posted again on Facebook asking people to interpret the phrase in their own languages: Tanthauzirani mau awa mchirankhulidwe chanu“Boma ndi lomweli.” Many people commented. The phrase became widely used, and eventually some began claiming they were the ones who had coined it.
The way the phrase had spread, made me doubt myself; maybe I wasn’t actually the originator? Maybe I had heard it somewhere and then subconsciously wrote it and thought this is mine? That also happens. But sometimes that’s how creativity works, you never really know where your book, your song, your painting, or your fashion idea truly begins or ends.
Writing from The Msima Republic
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