Lord of the Ring's love runs deep in search for lost wedding ring

A New Zealand man has been dubbed the Lord of the Ring after he searched and found his wedding ring more than a year after it slipped off his finger and sank to the sea floor.

The ring was lost for 16 months in the harbor of the country's capital city, Wellington, before Aleki Taumoepeau found it shining on the sea floor on Thursday August 20, 2009.

Taumoepeau, an ecologist, said "the whole top surface of the ring was glowing".

Taumoepeau had been married for just three months when he lost the wedding ring while conducting an environmental sweep of the harbour. He roughly marked the spot where the ring had flown from his finger, but was unable to find it despite returning to the area many times. Taumoepeau's wife offered to buy another ring, but he refused, pledging to find the ring. But, equipped with new global satellite based coordinates and offering up a quick prayer, he found the ring after an hour's search. Taumoepeau said "I couldn't believe that I could see the ring so perfectly". He said those with him on the boat at the time the ring flew off his finger had likened it to a similar, slow motion shot from The Lord of the Rings, much of which was filmed in Wellington by local director Peter Jackson.

Can we have 'Kings' and by extension 'kingdoms' in a unitary republican state?

Can we have 'Kings' and by extension 'kingdoms' in a unitary republican state?

"Does that present a parallel authority that is inimical to the health of the 'union'? With respect to the interference of the European colonialists, is it not the case that such evolution, had it not being curtailed would have led to single strands of 'national' authority, as exercised by kings who would have gained this authority through conquest or treaty anyway? Granted that our present geo-political formations are unnatural, is that enough excuse to cling to institutions whose relevance often -and please note that the stress is on often- ends with the ego massage of those who wield the authority and influence they present and only remind us of our differences. Can the state and these kingdoms make separate and equal (?) calls on our allegiance? Can there be different sets of judicial authority co-existing comfortably in a single polity?" It is well known fact that no concept is absolute in reality. One of them is the concept of statehood as well as nationhood. The sad case of Africa with respect to European scramble for resources led to arbitrariness in the present day maps representing the so-called Unitary Republics where in reality for most of them the centre can no longer hold. Don't forget Kings used to exercise control and authority over the people before these foreign concepts were introduced.

To idealised it in your urbanised setting and thinking will be flawed in that these traditional authorities are still the first ports of call when there are issued to be resolved in the localities in the rural areas. They are of course in the majority too. Look around Ghana for example today,where you have over 44 different major dialects and ethnic groupings, it is highly unlikely that all would be expected to hold same level of allegiance.

Yes, we can have 'Kings' and 'kingdoms' as well as 'States' in a unitary or Federal republic. The imperative in all these discourses is the acceptance that the so-called 'Republican state' is in fact just a confluence of tributaries of ethnic kingdoms. It therefore beholds on all and sundry to constantly bear that in mind and conscientiously forge ahead as is often referred to 'unity in diversity'. That is to imply, respecting our differences and believing that our strength lies in harmonising our perceived diversity. As the late South African Reggae Superstar, Lucky Dube put it, 'different colours, one pebble'. "It is agreed that though the state is a confluence of ethnic tributaries, aligning into a unitary state demands the loss of sovereignty of those ethnic based kingdoms to a superior kingdom in medieval times or to a national political authority in our situation. Thus, the concepts of kingdoms and republics are necessarily in constant competition. Hence, the difficulty in having kingdoms in a single state for were the implied sovereignty to be fully asserted they would, for instance be able to declare wars and attempt conquests of other 'kingdoms' within the state. And where would that leave the different coloured pebbles?" This by no means to say that the existence of kingdoms is the sole, necessary and sufficient condition for national strife which in turn would be caused by imbalances in resource distribution. What this implies is, the power of a sovereign state extends to, among others, the declaration of war, formation of alliances and signing of treaties. In that vein, unless our local 'kingdoms' exist only in name, then they must reserve these rights, which would then be a danger to the state. We remember that until genocide of unimaginable portions took place in some parts of the world, many people thought that 'ethnic cleansing' was just a theory. Of course now we know about the fact that it assumed a grisly reality in its practice. My candid opinion on what is described as a constant competition between kingdoms and the republic is this; it is purely a matter of theory. In reality, the situation is totally different. In Ghana today, we all are aware of who controls and allocates resources. In that vein, declaration of war by a kingdom against the only arises when there is a case of unfair distribution of the national cake. Or in the worst case scenario, humiliation and/ or annihilation of any group(s) by the powers that be. And we must also be reminded that this situation in any case might arise anyway without the existence of the so-called 'kingdoms'. Examples from many countries abound especially considering the fact that the 'Republic of Somalia' composes a single ethnic group yet clans are warring leading to the undermining of the Republic for well over a decade. One may say that is an exception rather than the norm. I beg to differ. The underlying causes of the conflict and failure of the Republic of Somalia are similar for many nations the world. Hence the only caution is to exercise power and authority given must also aim to better the wellbeing of all the citizenry irrespective of creed, colour, race, ethnic background or put one's kingdom of origin.

Academic qualifications are commonly felt to give a person the best chance of success in life.

There is a popular opinion out there that 'Academic qualifications are commonly felt to give a person the best chance of success in life'. How far is this true? I have no idea about the background of my reader(s), I would not also pretend to know any and so do not expect every reader to share my point of view on the aforementioned subject of discourse. What I know is my personal experience and knowledge of a couple of people in society from history who were born literally into a 'valley' with no hope of ever lifting themselves up even to the edge of the hole. Thanks to the saying that 'if you think education is expensive, try ignorance', today history has shown that education transformed them from 'nobodies' into 'somebodies'.

Come to think of the story of the life of Obama Senior, Kwame Nkrumah, infamous MMM of NDC Asawase constituency as well as many of the African liberation leaders of mid 20th century. These were/are individuals who persisted in their belief that education has something in store for them and hence pursued it to change their own circumstances for the better.Not only that education changed their own situations, but millions of people were also positively affected by the outcome of these peoples education.

Presently, we live in what is called computer dispensation. Apparently, without education it is difficult to follow world trends and ICT is very key in bridging the differences in lifestyles and cultures across the globe. Days goneby, if I intend to get informed from somebody abroad, I had to post either letter or telegram and wait for close to one moon to get a reply. Nowadays, I could chat right away online and discuss all the nitty gritty of an issue with the person thereby reducing cost and time. Come to think of mobile money transfer and how it is positively impacting the lives of millions of families and eliminating fraud and its associated agony often brought on the victims.

Further, education also synchronises our logic and makes negotiations simpler.

Going back on the saying quoted earlier on, the opposite is true of lacking education. Africa for example is the richest continent in terms of natural resources endowment but is the poorest simply because it is poorly managed. Why? Lack of education on the part of its leaders. It is important to distinguish here the difference between classroom education and life-transforming education. The latter is the one that does not only churns out people with long accolades of qualifications but produces creative, visionary leaders and thinkers who believe that if they can conceive, then they yet can do it. I am not writing about those with long degrees and titles and yet cannot think of even how to solve common sanitation problems like getting rid of mosquitoes hence eradicating Africa's long standing and debilitating enemy malaria. Education here is defined with respect to people who are light years ahead of their contemporaries in mitigating problems confronting their generations and generation nexus.

I was born in a hamlet in the middle of Ghana with no access to health care, good education, even potable water much more to think of any hope of ever travelling to even Kumasi or think of using the internet to communicate with white people (Kwasi Broni) but because of education here I am today espousing the goodies of it and hopefully millions especially in Ghana and Africa fortunate to have access to the internet to read and digest and critique it. I had the opportunity to cover the cortège of Ghana's former President, Dr. Hilla Liman in March 1998 as a radio reporter with Radio Univers of University of Ghana Legon and reported to the whole world. This was a privilege because in the whole of Ghana, I was the only radio reporter to follow through the cortège from the Independent Square in Accra to his village Gwollu in the Upper West Region. I also saw his humble and what might be described as hopeless beginning turned around due to his zeal to pursue education. Dr. Liman had to hunt wild game in order to raise enough funds to attend school. Later on, I was on radio daily in Accra for close to three years speaking on key national issues and getting admirers and of course opponents as a result. All these privileges were possible all because of education obtained.

As a young boy growing up in Sekondi-Takoradi in the Western Region of Ghana with my late uncle, I still recall the words of his first letter to me when I went to St. John's School in Sekondi, Western Region of Ghana. He advised me to take education serious since that is the only investment he could bequeath to me and the only way to change my life situation if I did not want to live like my poor parents in the village. Of course, that advice got embedded deep in my memory and truly I am today reaping the benefits of education with its limitless and borderless opportunities available to all who seek them.

In conclusion, I think education and here am not writing about academic qualification, is the way out in life. Academic qualification is sheer paper evidence but the substance of the evidence of that academic qualification/education is the way out of life for all and sundry especially in most parts of Africa where caste system does not exist. It unlocks our abilities to resolve problems and helps the less fortunate in society to better theirs and those generations yet unborn. It is in this vein that my humble appeal to people entrusted with national resources and authority to take decisions for the governed majority not to use emotionality but rationality in deciding the fate of education in especially Ghana. We all know very well that emotionality and rationality are negatively correlated and unless we allow sober heads to reason, we would stand accused of messing up the future fate of our people. Further, more resources must be committed to education since it the the only investment whose returns are unmeasurable and yet is very expensive hence often neglected by the powers that be.