Mabonga v Agricultural Finance Corporation (Cause E044 of 2025) [2025] KEELRC 2851 (KLR)
The bottom line
#A Kenyan court ruled an employer's dismissal valid in substance but unlawful because its disciplinary process denied the employee a fair hearing, awarding Kshs 3.3 million.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Valid and fair reason for termination
The Court found valid and fair reasons existed when the Claimant's lapses across several court matters were assessed cumulatively, although no single lapse sufficed
The Court examined each of the four stated grounds: the forgery allegation failed for want of evidence; but the failures in MCC E004 of 2024, SCOMM E6365 and E6363 of 2023, and the salary-overpayment matter each showed lack of diligence. Individually they fell short of gross negligence, but cumulatively they justified termination. The alleged conflict of interest was excluded as it was not among the stated grounds for termination.
Procedural fairness of the disciplinary process
The process was procedurally flawed because an investigator sat on the disciplinary committee and the Claimant was denied requested documents until the hearing
RW3, who extracted documents from the Claimant's computer, sat on the panel in breach of Clause 12.2.6 of the Human Resource Manual, and RW1 acted in a prosecutorial role. The Claimant's requests for documents were ignored; he received the investigation report only on the hearing date, following the reasoning in Ol Pejeta. The failure materially impaired his defence preparation, rendering the termination procedurally unfair despite valid reasons.
Reliefs and entitlements
Compensatory damages of three months' salary were awarded for procedural unfairness, along with accrued leave, long service award, leave allowance and non-practice allowance to July 2020
Because reasons were valid but procedure flawed, only three months' compensation was awarded, taking into account the length of service and the Claimant's own contribution to the termination. The Respondent conceded or did not dispute the leave allowance, long service award and accrued leave (no leave records produced under Section 74(1)(f)). Non-practice allowance was cut off at registration of the Claimant's law firm. Salary differential and meal allowance claims failed for want of basis.
Legal principles established
#- An employer bears the burden of proving the reason or reasons for termination; failure discharges into unfair termination under Section 45
- Attendance at a disciplinary hearing does not of itself amount to a fair hearing; the employee must have access to the materials relied upon
- A disciplinary committee must not include persons who participated in the investigations
- Cumulatively assessed omissions that individually would not justify dismissal may collectively constitute a valid and fair reason for termination
Court orders
#- 1.A declaration that the termination of the Claimant from employment was procedurally flawed and unlawful
- 2.Kshs 431,829.00 awarded as compensatory damages equivalent to three months' last gross salary
- 3.Kshs 215,914.50 awarded for accrued leave days for a period of 45 days
- 4.Kshs 10,000.00 awarded as long service award
- 5.Kshs 35,000.00 awarded as unpaid leave allowance for 2020-2024 at Kshs 7,000.00 per year
- 6.Kshs 2,640,000.00 awarded as non-practice allowance for 88 months (April 2013 to July 2020) at Kshs 30,000.00 per month
- 7.Total award of Kshs 3,332,743.50 with interest at court rates from the date of Judgment until payment in full
- 8.The Claimant to have the costs of the suit
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Original employment and labour relations jurisdiction of the Employment and Labour Relations Court (claim for unfair termination under the Employment Act)
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Mabonga v Agricultural Finance Corporation (Cause E044 of 2025) [2025] KEELRC 2851 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). Cause No E044 of 2025. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2025/2851/eng@2025-10-21
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.