17 former Area Sales Managers (ASMs) have won a protracted five-year fight with Safaricom after a Nairobi judge ruled that the telco fired them unfairly and must now pay more than Ksh 55 million, plus interest, for the mistake.
Justice Mathews Nduma Nderi of the Employment and Labour Relations Court delivered the decision on July 17, noting that Safaricom’s termination process “subjected the workers to impossible standards” and ran afoul of both the Employment Act and basic rules of natural justice.
“There is insufficient evidence to prove that the respondent deliberately violated the constitutional rights of the claimants,” he said, before adding that the manner of dismissal was nevertheless unlawful.
The dispute traces back to 2016, when Safaricom rolled out a Huawei Y311 device meant to digitise SIM-card registration across the country. The gadgets, nearly 90,000 in total, were handed to M-Pesa agents through the ASMs, who were expected to track usage, recover idle units, and ensure regulatory compliance.
From the start, the managers flagged gaps: devices were not network-locked, could browse social media, and lacked any central management dashboard. They repeatedly warned that rogue agents could repurpose the phones for personal use or even switch to rival networks.
Despite those red flags, Safaricom pressed ahead with a national rollout. By January 2018 the Risk Division was demanding audited reports on every handset. Two months later, the same division summoned the ASMs to headquarters, allegedly dictated witness statements, and gave them just 48 hours to recover gadgets scattered across vast sales territories.
Many agents had relocated, quit, or – even worse – lost the devices.
On June 28 2018, 39 ASMs received summary-dismissal letters. Only five were reinstated after internal appeals; the 17 who sued argued they were scapegoats for a project executed without proper controls.
What the court decided
Justice Nderi agreed that Safaricom’s internal weaknesses, not employee negligence, accounted for most of the device losses.
He ruled the firm’s disciplinary hearings were rushed, employees never received clear show-cause letters, and critical audit documents were withheld.
Safaricom’s argument that the fiasco cost it Ksh 544.5 million did not justify the sackings because the company “failed to acknowledge system-wide flaws that the claimants had highlighted from the outset.”
Each manager will now receive the equivalent of ten months’ gross salary plus one month’s pay in lieu of notice. Awards range from Ksh 935,000 to a little over Ksh 4.2 million per person, depending on their individual pay grade.
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Claimants | 17 |
| Lowest award | Ksh 0.935 M |
| Highest award | Ksh 4.20 M |
| Total compensation (principal) | > Ksh 55 M |
| Interest | Court rate, back-dated to 17 July 2025 |
| Safaricom’s claimed project loss | Ksh 544.5 M |
The court also ordered the telco to shoulder all legal costs and pay interest on the awards until the final shilling is settled, adding to a bill that could balloon past the headline figure if Safaricom drags its feet.
The ruling also adds to a growing line of cases in which Safaricom’s HR decisions have been scrutinised. Earlier this year the same court ordered the firm to pay Ksh 1.1 million to a former call-centre worker after ruling that his termination was similarly flawed.
For the 17 managers, many of whom have since taken lower-paying roles in smaller firms, the decision is both vindication and relief.
Safaricom has 30 days to lodge a notice of appeal.
By Newshub