A covert audio recording has secured victory for a former senior manager at Craft Silicon’s ride-hailing subsidiary, Little Cab, in a landmark case worth KSh 98 million. The court found that the manager, Ronald Otieno Mahondo, had been unfairly dismissed and unlawfully denied a 1% equity stake he was promised when he joined the company.
The Employment and Labour Relations Court determined that Mahondo, Little’s inaugural General Manager, was wrongfully terminated in 2017 in what appeared to be a deliberate move to prevent him from benefiting from the agreed shareholding.
Justice Mathews Nduma ruled that Mahondo’s secretly recorded conversation with Craft Silicon’s CEO, Kamal Budhabhatti, in which Budhabhatti acknowledged the 1% ownership offer, provided irrefutable proof of the claim. Consequently, the judge awarded Mahondo KSh 1.02 million for unlawful dismissal and USD 750,000 (about KSh 97 million), representing the value of his 1% stake based on Little’s valuation of USD 75 million.
“The claimant was victimised in a calculated effort to conceal that he had indeed been granted a 1% shareholding,” Justice Nduma stated in the 23 October 2025 judgment.
Mahondo had joined Little in April 2016 as General Manager on a monthly salary of KSh 240,000, later increased to KSh 340,000. His mandate was to build the ride-hailing startup from the ground up, with equity promised as an incentive, a common practice among tech startups in Kenya. He alleged that Craft Silicon had also pledged an additional 1% stake if he successfully grew the business.
Under his leadership, Little’s valuation reportedly soared to over USD 300 million within a year. However, when Mahondo sought a signed copy of his employment contract, specifically one reflecting the share agreement, relations with the company leadership began to deteriorate.
In response, Budhabhatti accused Mahondo of being “casual, careless, and unsystematic” in handling suppliers and failing to cooperate with colleagues. He further claimed the pay rise was “administrative” rather than merit-based, and said Mahondo was guilty of gross misconduct but was nonetheless released through “normal termination” with KSh 633,737 paid as severance.
Mahondo, on the other hand, argued that his dismissal stemmed from his persistence in requesting the signed contract. Following his insistence, he began receiving disciplinary notices and performance warnings, culminating in his sacking in May 2017. Justice Nduma observed, “The flurry of adverse letters issued within a single month corroborates the claimant’s account of intimidation and harassment once he demanded the contract confirming his 1% shareholding.”
Anticipating foul play, Mahondo secretly recorded several meetings, including one in which Budhabhatti confirmed the share offer. The court deemed the audio admissible under Kenya’s Evidence Act, describing it as “credible, consistent, and verifiable.”
The judge further noted that Budhabhatti never directly refuted the 1% share claim and failed to challenge evidence showing that the company’s other director, his wife, subjected Mahondo to “persistent harassment, threats, and intimidation.”
