High Court Keeps Vodafone in Safaricom Dealer Lawsuit, Testing Parent Company Liability

High Court Declines to Strike Vodafone from Safaricom Dealership Lawsuit

The High Court of Kenya has declined to remove Vodafone from a lawsuit over a terminated Safaricom dealership agreement, allowing claims against the British telecom group to proceed alongside those against its local affiliate.

According to court filings, the underlying dispute centers on Goodweek Inter-Services Limited. The company operated as a distributor of M-PESA services and mobile hardware since 2002 before losing access to Safaricom's trading portal in April 2024. Safaricom maintains the suspension was a standard administrative move because the dealer failed to renew its contract. Goodweek counters that the telecom operator abused its market dominance to enforce non-negotiable agreements, alleging the new contracts included unilateral termination clauses and deliberately unrealistic sales targets.

Goodweek also named Vodafone Plc and Vodafone Kenya Limited as respondents alongside Safaricom. The parent companies later applied to have the claims against them dismissed, arguing their inclusion was inappropriate in what they described as a local commercial dispute.

The court declined the application, holding that questions about the parent companies' role should be determined at trial rather than resolved at a preliminary stage.

The ruling leaves Vodafone in the case for now and suggests parent companies may remain parties to commercial disputes where their role in the underlying business relationship is contested. Whether Vodafone bears any legal responsibility for Safaricom's dealership terms will be determined as the case proceeds.