I have noticed that there are some lawyers from the legal fraternity habitually criticising the Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Mr Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum for his comments, explanations, and policies both on economic and legal issues.
The likes of Graham Leung, John Apted, and Richard-Naidu just to name a few and of course not forgetting our good professor, are always ready to bombard the A-G with their empty rhetoric to damage his reputation and credibility as the man in charge of Fiji’s economy.
They love to hate him, and their envy is due to Mr Sayed-Khaiyum’s huge progress in life and the great stride he made to where he is today.
Love him or hate him this man has steered Fiji out of a possible economic collapse due to the impacts of Covid-19 and now the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum is holding two especially important portfolios normally held by one and has managed it exceptionally well.
If you look at past Attorney-Generals like Sir Vijay, John Falvey, Andrew Deoki, Manikam Pillai, Jai Ram Reddy and Alipate Qetaki they all were just A-G’s.
Herein lies the root cause of jealousy. Whether the A-G is successful in managing the economy is a secondary matter, but the reality is his fellow legal colleagues couldn’t match his great heights from being an ordinary lawyer to now A-G, the country’s chief legal officer plus the Minister of Economy.
As for his success it can only be measured by the country’s ability to avoid any pay cuts to its huge civil servants and to continue to provide social welfare assistance during these challenging times where government has lost at least 60 per cent of its revenue.
History will remember him as a great servant.
Editors Note: The above is the views of the author of this letter Mr. Tarun Tikaram