From ICU to Note-Taking: Aiyaz Khaiyum’s Instant Recovery Stuns FIJI. The Irony of It All. "Stroke", Sprint, and Suspicion: His Miracle Recovery and Recusal Circus before Chief Justice Temo. Lets Get On With The Trial

• In his recusal application, Aiyaz-Sayed Khaiyum claims Chief Justice Salesi Temo, while giving evidence in the Pryde Tribunal, had labelled him (Khaiyum)  a “controversial figure”, suggesting bias or a predetermined lens. Christopher Pryde, the substantive and then-current DPP, had been suspended by the President on the advice of the JSC, which was chaired by Temo. Pryde was later exonerated by the Tribunal consisting of three Judges.
• Khaiyum also says the relationship between Temo and Acting DPP Nancy Tikoisuva is “too close” for comfort, arguing it threatens the presumption of innocence.  
• CJ Temo’s response? “Taxpayers pay me to work, not sit on my backside.”
• He insists he has a duty to ensure a fair trial. Also, being called “controversial” is not always negative, he argued. ​​​

Sprinting Up The Steps

*Just weeks ago, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum was presented as nearly brain-dead - stroke, overseas treatment needed, crisis everywhere. He asked Chief Justice Salesi Temo for permission to fly abroad for medical care. "Dr Temo" said NO.

*Now, with surprising speed, Khaiyum is back in court. Not just sitting. The lawyers requested notepads for him to scribble notes, asked to sit with clients on the bench - signs of being sharp, alert, and engaged.

 *You know the behaviours of someone who was supposedly gasping for oxygen just days before, and now 'Miracle Man' 

*From ICU to Courtroom Stenographer in record time

​*A miracle recovery if ever there was one.
​*Either Fiji has discovered a cure for strokes that eludes the rest of the medical world, or Khaiyum’s courtroom theatrics have finally caught up with reality.

Let me be clear at the outset: I am no fan of Chief Justice Salesi Temo. I have held him to account for years, But even a critic must acknowledge irony when it stares the nation in the face. Because on this occasion, it is not Salesi Temo who looks absurd. It is the former Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

Act One: The Sick Man of Suva
​Only weeks ago, the Chief Justice Temo was told Khaiyum had suffered a "stroke". The narrative was sombre: frail, paralysed, gravely in need of overseas medical intervention. His lawyers begged CJ Temo to permit urgent travel.Temo said no. He rejected the application. Many, including Fijileaks, thought the Chief Justice had gone too far. Surely compassion demanded otherwise.

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Act Two: The Miracle Man
And then came the spectacle: Khaiyum, supposedly debilitated, striding up the courthouse steps with the vigour of an athlete. No crutch, no aide, no hesitation. He was running. It was a miracle worthy of Lourdes, the Catholic shrine where the sick claim instant healing. But Khaiyum didn’t need holy waters. His cure came courtesy of CJ Temo’s refusal. One moment, the stroke patient pleads for mercy; the next, the sprinter of Suva. Even those convinced Temo was wrong had to admit: the Chief Justice called the bluff.

Act Three: From Healing to Recusal
Now comes the latest act in the drama: Khaiyum has applied to recuse the Chief Justice from presiding over his trial. The defense claims there is a reasonable apprehension of bias. Here are the main grounds cited, and our comments on each:

1. The “Controversial Figure” Remark

• Claim: Temo once described Khaiyum as a “controversial figure” in a public setting.
• Comment: And? Calling the architect of Fiji’s most divisive political and legal machinery “controversial” is like calling the Rewa River “wet.” Hardly evidence of bias. Judges are allowed to state the obvious. Khaiyum was running politics like a personal fiefdom, Temo calling it 'controversial' is polite.

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2. Relationship with the Director of Public Prosecutions

• Claim: Temo is too close to the Acting DPP, Nancy Tikoisuva, undermining arms-length impartiality.
• Comment: Judges and prosecutors inevitably cross paths. Professional proximity is not bias. Unless there is evidence of improper collusion, this is smoke without fire.

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3. Pattern of Case Assignment

• Claim: The Chief Justice kept Khaiyum’s matters for himself, from bail to travel to trial - instead of assigning them out in the ordinary course.
• Comment: This is the only argument with any oxygen. If Khaiyum can prove irregular self-allocation, the “fair-minded observer” test might bite. But without hard evidence of deviation from standard practice, it is just another delaying tactic dressed up as principle.

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Bias or Bullsh*t?
The legal test is clear: would a fair-minded observer, properly informed of the facts, reasonably apprehend that the judge might not be impartial?

• On the medical refusal, adverse rulings don’t equal bias.
• On the “controversial” remark, it’s descriptive, not dispositive.
• On the relationship with the DPP, it’s flimsy.
• Only on the self-allocation issue could the application have legs, but proof is essential - and absent so far.

So let’s call this what it is: not bias, but bullsh*t.
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The Real Perception
The perception problem isn’t Temo’s. It’s Khaiyum’s.
The public has eyes. They saw the stroke victim turn into a sprinter. They’ve watched medical affidavits melt in the Suva sun. And now they see cries of bias as just another chapter in the endless script of evasion.
Curtain Call. Fiji has been treated to theatre, not justice. And while I remain no fan of Temo, in this scene, the farce is not his. It is Khaiyum’s.
Lets get on with the trial.
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The Charges and Allegations in Brief

• Between 1 June 2022 and 31 July 2022, while Supervisor of Elections (a constitutional office holder), Mohammed Saneem allegedly asked Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum for approval for government to pay more than $55,000 in taxes that had accrued on his back pay.
• Sayed-Khaiyum allegedly approved this payment/waiver without the Constitutional Offices Commission (COC) and the President giving the necessary authorization.
• If true, this would amount to an unauthorized conferral of a financial benefit upon a constitutional office holder.

Without prejudice, the only plausible defence is that Saneem merely asked the FFP government to settle taxes it legitimately owed him. As Acting Prime Minister, Khaiyum could argue he had the authority to approve the payment as an administrative decision, without needing to trigger higher constitutional approval from the COC or the President. Now, let's get on with the trial.