In a significant ruling, the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Kenya has granted Ronald Otieno Mahondo, the inaugural General Manager of Little Cab, a total of KSh 98 million due to unfair dismissal and a broken promise regarding company equity, as reported by the Kenyan Wall Street.
The decision, made on October 23, 2025, by Justice Mathews Nduma, resolved a prolonged conflict between Mahondo and his previous employer, Craft Silicon, the parent company of the ride-hailing platform. The court determined that Craft Silicon’s CEO, Kamal Budhabhatti, had illegally dismissed Mahondo in 2017, specifically to stop him from claiming his 1% ownership in the company.
The total compensation includes USD 750,000 (around KSh 97 million), which reflects the value of the 1% equity, along with an extra KSh 1.02 million for the unlawful termination.
A pivotal moment in the case was the introduction of a secret audio recording made by Mahondo, in which Budhabhatti confirmed the agreement regarding the 1% share.
Mahondo submitted a covertly recorded conversation he had with Mr. Budhabhatti, a move that ultimately proved to be fatal for the defense. The CEO can be heard on the recording confirming that Mahondo will receive the one percent stake.
Despite Craft Silicon’s defense team’s arguments that the recording was not admissible, Justice Nduma determined that it was “credible, consistent, and verifiable” in accordance with Kenya’s Evidence Act. The judge concluded that Mahondo had recorded multiple meetings because he believed an unjust disciplinary procedure was being used against him. The company had attempted to refute Mahondo’s main claim, but this audio evidence proved to be the smoking gun that proved it.
The dismissal was directly related to the company’s attempt to evade its contractual obligations, according to Justice Nduma’s ruling. In his decision, the judge said, “The claimant was victimized in an attempt to conceal the fact that he had been awarded 1 percent shareholding.”. In April 2016, Ronald Mahondo was recruited to join the Little Cab.
Nonetheless, the court ultimately determined its valuation using a more cautious figure, estimating the 1% stake to be valued at USD 750,000, based on a total company valuation of USD 75 million.
Reportedly, relations between Mahondo and the senior management began to deteriorate when he insisted on obtaining a written, counter-signed copy of his employment contract that outlined the share award. He asserted that he had signed his copy but had never received the official version from the company.
The court concluded that Mahondo’s insistence on this matter directly contributed to his dismissal. Justice Nduma described the situation as a “litany of adverse letters to the Claimant in a short span of one month,” during which the company started to construct a disciplinary case against him.
This effort culminated in his abrupt termination in May 2017.
In their defense, Craft Silicon and Mr. Budhabhatti presented a contrasting narrative. They argued that Mahondo was “casual, careless, and unsystematic in his management” of suppliers and “did not get along with colleagues.” They claimed he had been found guilty of gross misconduct, but the company opted to terminate him ‘normally’ and provided him with a severance package of KSh 633,737.
The court dismissed these claims, determining that the timing and nature of the disciplinary measures were a clear pretext for his dismissal. The judgment also highlighted that the defense had not directly refuted evidence of “persistent abuse, harassment, threats, and promises of termination of employment” from another director of the company, who is also Budhabhatti’s wife.
The KSh 98 million ruling stands as one of the largest of its kind in the history of Kenya’s labor court.
