Ruto may soon learn The Hague is no movie

 

By KWENDO OPANGA
Posted  Saturday, August 6  2011 at  18:28

In Summary

• That court is neither the setting for the local slapstick Vitimbi comedy or the acclaimed Lord of the Rings

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Eldoret North Member of Parliament William Ruto appears to have convinced himself that International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is his personal enemy.

And he appears persuaded Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s case against him at The Hague is Hollywood-style fiction.

When Mr Ruto gets to The Hague for confirmation of charges hearing next month, he will quickly realise that that court is neither the setting for the local slapstick Vitimbi comedy nor, much less, the internationally acclaimed Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Movies, be they of the silver or big screen or the small (television) screen, be they action-packed thrillers of the Terminator variety or Dracula, of the red-in-tooth-and-claw horror variety, have entertainment value. The same goes for drama or sitcoms (situation comedies).

What Mr Ruto is faced with right now is that he is suspected of masterminding crimes against humanity. These are the vilest of crimes, comprising, as they do, rape, murder and displacement on a large scale. And, next month Mr Ruto faces the nightmare of becoming an accused person.

The same goes for his five Ocampo-fingered colleagues — Public Service Head Francis Muthaura, former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey, and radio journalist Joshua arap Sang.

They, too, are not going to a Fox Theatre in The Hague. But this is not just about the Ocampo sextet.

Trials at The Hague will have a serious bearing on the standing and reputation of Kenya in the comity of nations. Remember Kenya’s international standing was sorely sullied by the post-election violence of 2007/2008.

And bear in mind that Mr Kenyatta is the man who is in charge of the country’s finances; Mr Muthaura sits atop Kenya’s civil service edifice and is secretary to the Cabinet; Mr Ali was in charge of the police during the mayhem and Mr Ruto and Mr Kosgey are former ministers.

Hardworking Kenyans at the Brand Kenya Board under the leadership of Mrs Mary Kimonye, the Kenya Tourist Board under Mr Muriithi Ndegwa and the Kenya Film Commission under Mr Peter Mutie are horrified by the possible arraignment of the sextet at The Hague.

Kenya’s envoys who are in Mombasa for their annual convention will tell you that the spectre of long-running legal battles at the ICC in which images of Kenyans going hammer-and-tongs at each other with crude machetes, spears and arrows will feature, will damage the country’s diplomacy.

Marketing and promoting Kenya as an investor and visitor destination of long-standing repute, which is what Mrs Kimonye, Mr Ndegwa, Mr Mutie and Kenya’s diplomats are tasked with, will be made much harder by the appearance of Ruto & Co before Justice Ekaterina Trendafilova & Co.

It is Mr Mutie’s mandate to market Kenya as a filming destination and attract film-makers to the country. While arguments by Mr Moreno-Ocampo and Mr Ruto’s lawyers about guns, commanders and fund-raisers may make for a great movie, they will not bring film-makers to Kenya.

Trials at The Hague will cause investors to put their plans for Kenya on hold; rating agencies such as Standard & Poors or Moody’s may downgrade the country and, therefore, raise its political risk rating. This, in turn, may cause banks to similarly question or suspend lending to Kenya.

Now, the possibility exists that the six may have the cases against them confirmed and, therefore, all make the transition from suspects to accused persons or that some of them will be free men because the court may find that there is not sufficient evidence to sustain their prosecution.

Cases are won or lost in court on the basis of the evidence presented by the prosecution and how the defence shoots holes in it or creates, as lawyers are wont to say, reasonable doubt in the minds of the judges as to its credibility.

What Mr Ruto & Co need to do is not to malign the prosecutor or whine at every opportunity, but to sharpen the tools with which to discredit and dismantle his evidence against them and ensure that the three judges find they have no case to answer.

That appears highly unlikely for all the six. Therefore, the six must diligently, purposefully and painstakingly prepare evidence and arguments to counter Mr Moreno-Ocampo in the trial proper if the cases are confirmed.

When all is said and done, Mr Ruto must remember he is among the group of inconsistent but loud MPs who brought Plague of The Hague movie to Kenya.

Kwendo Opanga is a media consultant. opanga@diplomateastafrica.com