Yesterday's High Court judgment on the impeachment of H.E. Rigathi Gachagua raises serious and legitimate questions that our constitutional jurisprudence must grapple with honestly. The three-judge bench found that the Senate violated the former Deputy President's right to a fair hearing under Article 50 of the Constitution specifically by declining to grant an adjournment when he was unable to attend the proceedings. The court acknowledged that violation, issued a declaratory order and awarded Ksh.50 million in constitutional damages. Yet the bench ultimately upheld the impeachment itself. I respect the court and the constitutional role it plays. But I believe this outcome calls for serious reflection on the coherence of our remedial framework.
The tension in the judgment lies in this, if the Senate's refusal to adjourn was a constitutional infirmity serious enough to warrant a finding of violation and a Ksh.50 million award, then the question that naturally follows is whether that infirmity was capable of tainting the entire removal process. The right to a fair hearing is not procedural decoration. It is a substantive constitutional guarantee, particularly in proceedings that result in the removal of a person from high public office. Courts must therefore grapple carefully with what it means to vindicate a right while simultaneously affirming the outcome that flowed from its violation. It is a difficult balance and I appreciate that the bench was navigating complicated constitutional terrain.
It is instructive to recall the reasoning of the Supreme Court in the landmark 2017 presidential election petition delivered by the then Chief Justice David Maraga. The court, in a 4-2 majority, nullified the presidential election not on the basis that the outcome was necessarily wrong but on the basis that the process through which it was arrived at did not conform to the Constitution and the law. The court found that irregularities and illegalities in the transmission of results had compromised the integrity of the election and that the constitutional standard required more than a plausible result, it required a process that was itself constitutionally compliant. That principle that a flawed process cannot produce a constitutionally valid outcome remains a pillar of our public law.
When we place that 2017 reasoning alongside yesterday's judgment, a legitimate concern emerges. Both cases involved constitutional violations in the course of a high-stakes removal or electoral process. In 2017, the violation of constitutional standards was sufficient to nullify the result entirely. Yesterday, a violation of the right to a fair hearing was found, remedied in damages but the result was preserved. These are not necessarily irreconcilable positions, courts do have discretion in fashioning remedies but the distinction must be clearly reasoned and transparently justified because the precedent being set will govern how future impeachments are conducted and how future courts respond to violations within those processes.
My concern is about the precedent this decision may establish. If a constitutional violation during impeachment proceedings can be remedied by damages without disturbing the outcome, future Parliaments and Senates may not feel the full weight of their constitutional obligations when handling removal proceedings. The court itself noted the urgent need for Parliament to enact a dedicated statutory framework under Article 150 governing the removal of a Deputy President which is a legislative gap that should never have existed this long. That recommendation must not be ignored. A constitutional democracy is built on the integrity of its processes not merely its outcomes. We must ensure that the right to a fair hearing in Kenya remains substantive and not merely symbolic.
Constitutional Division of our High Court holds that the Constitutional Rights of Gachagua were violated but proceeds to compensate him for the violation instead of annulling the process. The High Court has given the Court of Appeal an easy bifurcated choice: affirm the violation & nullify the impeachment or set aside the alleged violation & confirm the impeachment.
The decision of the High Court is a judicial absurdity: REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM!
I said it in 2024 when Rigathi Gachagua was impeached by the Senate. The High Court agreed with me today that indeed he was denied a fair trial. A decision that infringe on a litigant's non derogable rights like the right to a fair trial under Article 25(c) can't stand in law.
Under Article 25(c) of the constitution, the right to fair trial is a non-derogable right. So how can the court make quasi constitutional excuses on amorphous grounds in its refusal to set aside the impeachment of Hon Rigathi Gachagua? The Gachagua judgment in my humble opinion is on a shaky, shallow, soggy and sandy soil.
Carrefour Kenya just quietly added one of the most useful AI features I’ve seen in local retail. You can now simply:
- Paste your shopping list
- Type your shopping list
- Or upload an image of your shopping list
And the app automatically finds the products and suggests items to add directly to your cart. Just like that.
Honestly, this is one of those examples of AI that might not make headlines but will save people real time.
Because Me personally?I don't enjoy searching for: “tomatoes, milk, tissue, cooking oil, bread, detergent, yoghurt, toothpaste, onions…” one item at a time.
Shopping online often feels like playing a scavenger hunt designed by someone who has never entered a supermarket.
This AI removes that friction. And that’s where AI shines. Not necessarily in replacing people…but in eliminating unnecessary work.
The most successful AI implementations won’t always be the flashy robots, viral videos, or futuristic demos.They’ll be the features that quietly save you:
* 5 minutes
* 10 clicks
* 20 searches
* and a little bit of your sanity.
What’s interesting is that we’re increasingly seeing Kenyan businesses move from talking about AI to actually embedding it into customer experiences.
That’s the real shift.
The winners in the AI era may not be the companies building the biggest AI models. They may be the companies asking: “What annoying task can we remove for our customers?”
Because convenience scales. And consumers quickly become addicted to things that make life easier.
I suspect after using this feature once, manually searching for every item in your shopping list is going to feel a little bit like typing phone numbers from memory lmfaoo.
Technology is at its best when it becomes invisible.
You don’t notice the AI. You just notice that shopping got quicker.
Have you tried it yet? I just added a list sent to me and BAM!
Africa Finance Corporation is honoured to bring you The Africa We Build Summit 2026. We’re proud to present to you the speakers from #AFC who will be speaking at #TAWBS2026.
In less than one week, at #TAWBS2026, the specialized topics will go deep into:
- Focus on Kenya: energy, transport, and capital mobilization showcases
- Focus on Finance: pension fund case studies and domestic capital solutions
- Harmonization: policy dialogue to unlock infrastructure investment
This is where the real work begins.
📍 Nairobi | 23-24 April 2026
Secure your place: https://t.co/msz6PxQK6p
#AfricaWeBuild #TAWBS2026 #AFC #AfricaInfrastructure
Emirates will begin operating a limited number of flights commencing on the evening of 2 March.
We are accommodating customers with earlier bookings as a priority, and those who have been rebooked to travel on these limited flights will be contacted directly by Emirates.
Please do not go to the airport unless you have been notified.
All other flights remain suspended until further notice.
Emirates continues to monitor the situation, and we will develop our operational schedule accordingly. Updates will be published on https://t.co/1ESVEkKamu and our official social media channels.
We would like to thank our customers for their understanding and patience.
The safety and security of our passengers and crew remain our highest priority.
No amount of money can get you a flight out of Dubai right now.
Or Doha. Or Bahrain. Or Kuwait.
The richest cities on earth - and you can't leave.
Money buys you options. It doesn't buy you exits.
The world changed overnight. Again.
@EmiratesSupport Hi there
I have an issue. I wasn’t able to collect my luggage, we were told that we can communicate through the hotel. However, hotel says they don’t have any contacts with you on that. Kindly advise on that. Send an email that I can send this compliant
“Iran just stated that they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before. THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE! Thank you for your attention to this matter!” - President DONALD J. TRUMP
Dubai just shut down. The busiest international airport on earth. Closed. Indefinitely.
Dubai International and Al Maktoum International both suspended all operations on February 28 per official Dubai Airports statement. Over 280 flights canceled. 250 more delayed. The airspace that handles more international passengers than any hub on the planet went dark this morning because Iranian ballistic missiles were flying through it.
Now read the airline list and understand the scale of what just broke.
Emirates. Grounded. Etihad. Grounded. Qatar Airways. Suspended all flights to and from Doha after Qatari airspace closed. Air India. Every single flight to every destination in the entire Middle East. Suspended indefinitely. Turkish Airlines. Suspended flights to Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, Qatar, and the UAE until at least March 2. Lufthansa. Dubai suspended. Air France. Tel Aviv and Beirut suspended. Wizz Air. Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Amman suspended until March 7. British Airways. Affected. Virgin Atlantic. Affected. Japan Airlines. Affected. Norwegian Air, LOT Polish, Scandinavian Airlines, Aegean, Iberia, Air Arabia, PIA, Saudia, Air Algerie. All affected. All grounded or rerouting.
This is not a regional disruption. This is the global aviation network breaking at one of its most critical nodes.
Dubai is not just an airport. It is the single largest connecting hub between Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Every flight from Mumbai to London, from Singapore to Frankfurt, from Nairobi to New York that routes through the Gulf is now either canceled, delayed, or burning extra fuel on thousand-mile detours around closed airspace. IndiGo just suspended flights to Almaty, Baku, Tashkent, and Tbilisi until March 28. Not March 2. March 28. A month of Central Asian connectivity erased because Iranian missiles crossed the flight paths.
The cost is compounding by the hour. Rerouted flights burn more fuel when oil is spiking past 100 dollars a barrel because the same conflict that closed the airspace is threatening the strait that moves 21 million barrels a day. Airlines are paying surge prices for fuel to fly longer routes around a war zone that did not exist yesterday morning. Every hour the airspace stays closed, the losses multiply across carriers already operating on thin margins.
And here is what nobody is calculating yet. Dubai’s economy runs on connectivity. Tourism. Trade. Finance. Logistics. All of it depends on DXB being open. The UAE just absorbed an act of war on its sovereign territory with a civilian killed in Abu Dhabi from missile debris. The country that built its entire economic model on being the safe, neutral, connected hub of the Middle East is now closed for business because the country it had no quarrel with fired missiles through its airspace.
Iran did not just attack military bases this morning. Iran shut down the economic engine of the Gulf.
That is a cost Tehran cannot afford to repay and the UAE will not forget.
Due to multiple regional airspace closures, Emirates has temporarily suspended operations to and from Dubai.
Emirates urges customers to check https://t.co/leEoGJH9xO and https://t.co/BivNFalHGN for the latest updates before proceeding to the airport.
We are actively monitoring the situation and engaging with relevant authorities.
We apologise to customers affected by disruptions for any inconvenience caused, and we are assisting them with rebooking, refunds, or alternative travel arrangements.
The safety and security of our passengers and crew remain our highest priority.