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It has been three weeks now since Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson ordered a probe into allegations made by a 19-year-old woman that she was relieved of her Rastafarian locks while in custody at Four Paths Police Station in the mid-island parish of Clarendon.Surely such an investigation should not take that long to be completed. The allegations are serious, although there are counterclaims made by people, who said they are associates of the woman, that it was she who had cut her hair and had told them that she later became regretful of her action.Now, who should we believe? The young lady accused a particular member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force of doing the unthinkable. That member, who swore to serve, protect, and reassure, was, along with a colleague, transferred to another station while the investigation progressed.But the time has come. If the police personnel who were transferred had anything to do with the removal of the locks, then the nation must hear now. The Professional Standards Oversight Bureau and the Inspectorate of the Constabulary must speak up. It is taking far too long.Mind you, if it is found that information was fabricated by the 19-year-old then she should get the scolding that the act deserves.The wait for a report, even a preliminary one, has been too long, and it does not look good on the part of the State.How the vaccine became a mustHe was my friend for decades, and only three weeks ago James "Jim" Thomas called to say he wanted to discuss something with me. He suggested that I come to see him at his Hotel Versailles in May Pen, Clarendon. That visit did not materialise, for Jim died Friday, August 13 at hospital from the effects of COVID-19.We had a verbal commitment that we would await the availability of one of the Cuban-developed vaccines against the deadly disease, instead of taking the only one available here at the time - the AstraZeneca.I was informed of Jim's death by retired president of the Court of Appeal and Chairman of the Integrity Commission Justice Seymour Panton, one of four men who had been encouraging me all along to stop delaying and take the jab, the others being Dr Ray Fraser, Dr Lincoln Wright, and Churchill Neita.The information about Jim from Justice Panton hit hard... and now I will never know what he really wanted to discuss.In the space of 20 minutes, Justice Panton, Dr Fraser, and Dr Wright had convinced me that the wait for a preferred vaccine should be abandoned. They suggested that I proceed to one of the centres that would be open the following day.After much reflection that night on the psychological effect of the needle, I decided to make a move of confidence to the National Arena. It was 1:59 pm when a soldier handed me a form to complete on the outside of the arena. Less than 10 minutes later I was part of a small group being ushered inside the vaccination area.Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness and Kingston College old boy Dunstan Bryan assured me that all would be well. A young lady piloted me to a seat at the back of a row, I completed the paperwork, and within minutes a nurse was pushing a trolley in my direction. I thought, 'Mi dead now.' She walked past the others seated from the front, stopped next to me, took out a needle and other stuff, but I was focused only on the needle.She asked which was my dominant hand, I told her my right hand, and having received the information she asked me to roll up my left sleeve, came in closer, and then walked away."What happen, you done already?" was my question to her."Yes sir, it's all over," she responded."Really, I never felt a thing," I said to her. "Do it again, nurse, because I still could not believe that the first round had ended."By 2:40 pm, the only thing that held me up at the venue was a nagging downpour of rain.Round one was over. Round two should be better.Lockdown a desperate moveAll of this could have been avoided had Prime Minister Andrew Holness followed key medical advice and not opened up the entertainment industry when he did in July. Now, a lockdown, which has caught all and sundry off guard, is in place.This is what results when a political administration does not plan well and declines to use the collective brain for its intended purpose.How could an Administration not see that once you give the go-ahead to keep all sorts of parties and the like, cases of the novel coronavirus would go up? It was bound to happen. And, the people who are advising the prime minister should lower their heads in shame.So it's time to shut down the country for three consecutive days, initially, in a land where poor people survive day to day. Some have no refrigerator, so they have to buy the two pounds of chicken back and the other perishable items that they need to provide for their families daily. These people cannot jump up and flock PriceSmart, as happened last Friday and Saturday after the announcement of lockdown days was made, and spend several thousand dollars just like that.The PriceSmart experience is one spin-off from lockdown. It happened before and will happen again. There is a clear danger when people congregate in an area in large numbers, and that's what happens when people have to rush to supermarkets and membership clubs.As in the case of the entertainment industry, those packed buses transporting people without masks to events also contributed to the spike. It is time to learn.Derrick Smith, and politicians' salariesLast week, The Gleaner carried an article that featured Derrick Smith, the retired Cabinet minister and Member of Parliament (MP), which, among other things, outlined his remuneration at $7.573 million from the Government for serving as a consultant to Prime Minister Holness.Now, what surprised me was that Smith - a man of considerable experience, knowledge, and intelligence - was being paid so little as a consultant. But when you look around and see what a member of the House of Representatives is paid - a measly $4.2 million per annum, plus perquisites (MPs tell me that barely $300,000 end up in their bank accounts per month) a Cabinet minister, not including the deputy prime minister and minister of finance getting just over $6.5 million a year, and the prime minister, at last check, raking in under $8 million - it tells you how paltry public sector salaries are in this country.I have always believed that among the people who should be properly compensated are politicians, especially members of the House of Representatives who have the Herculean task of catering to 'bruk bad' and undisciplined constituents who believe that their MP must provide all things for them - down to toilet paper.The pressure that a member of the House comes under is greater than any other. That is why when the selection process comes around much care should be attached to it, for, truly, it is the crème de la crème that ought to be seated in Parliament, not some of the undesirables that you have now, including men who beat women, put pressure on the treasury, litter the place, or support every Bill along party lines, even if they know that the move would be detrimental to the country.I long for the day when there will be clear guidelines for choosing elected political officials who are qualified for entry and competent to serve... people who can follow in the footsteps of someone like Derrick Smith, whose tenure as MP and member of the Jamaican Cabinet must be rated as high as those on the top shelf of political administration.Where is that locks-trimming report?It has been three weeks now since Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson ordered a probe into allegations made by a 19-year-old woman that she was relieved of her Rastafarian locks while in custody at Four Paths Police Station in the mid-island parish of Clarendon.Surely, such an investigation should not take that long to be completed. The allegations are serious, although there are counter claims made by people, who said they are associates of the woman, that it was she who had cut her hair and had told them that she later became regretful of her action.Now, who should we believe? The young lady accused a particular member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force of doing the unthinkable. That member, who swore to serve, protect, and reassure, was, along with a colleague, transferred to another station while the investigation progressed.But the time has come. If the police personnel who were transferred had anything to do with the removal of the locks, then the nation must hear now. The Professional Standards Oversight Bureau and the Inspectorate of the Constabulary must speak up. It is taking far too long.Mind you, if it is found that information was fabricated by the 19-year-old then she should get the scolding that the act deserves.The wait for a report, even a preliminary one, has been too long, and it does not look good on the part of the State.