I have   had a brief   look at the  events taking place at the Hague from both print and electronic media and I have noticed naive and  grave mistakes Ruto, his defense counsels and  witnesses are making that may eventually cost him his ‘innocence’. Unlike the Kenyan law courts where   people are judged according to the size of their pockets, the Hague  is a different ball game and in particular, statements made in  and   out of court  by both the defense and Ruto himself exhibit  gross naivete in their part.
For one, if you know you have sufficient evidence to exonerate yourself from   the charges against you, do not run to the media and bear it all, by doing so as Ruto has been doing throughout. He presents the Ocampo   group an advantage of knowing what they are against on a silver platter.  The Ocampo team therefore thoroughly prepares their  evidence to counter Rutos. It must be noted that Ocampo  has not held any publicity stunts to chest thump himself on how he is going to prove Ruto’s  criminality.  He instead talked vaguely of what he will be  charging him with then kept a distance from the press.  Ruto on the other hand, keeps on preemptively  negating Ocampo’s allegation on the press  that is open to everyone including Ocampo who uses these preemptive and unnecessary  statements to prepare his case. Honorouble Ruto, if I were you, I will remain silent on this matter, hold no press conferences, and decist from vindicating myself   in the public since your innocence as per now is at the Hague’s sole discretion. Do not give Ocampo  undeserved   weapon to use against you.
Second, Ruto’s, witnesses, particularly Cheramboss,  seems to believe that if he says he was not where Ocampo said he was (attending meetings  at Ruto’s home) the court will take it as  gospel truth. You can state that a million times but in any court of law, there is  something called substantiation. You have to substantiate your  statement. If you have no other means of  corroborating your statement, say like  stating whom you were with at the other place where you were, then your statement is deemed indeterminate since no one can know for sure where you were. You might have been even outside earth, but if you have no corroborative evidence, then the court treats it as hearsay.  Ruto, you should have got witnesses who can substantiate   and  corroborate their claims.
Lastly, his so-called counsel Katwa Kigen made a gross mistake;preparing witness statements. Therefore, the court cannot determine whether the statements were made  by the witness or Kigen.  This is a  major crack to Ruto’s defense as it shows that  the so-called witnesses are actually stooges who were called to come forward and got coached  on what to say.   Unless the witnesses are  completely   illiterate which I believe is not the case, it is  imprudent to prepare written statements on their behalf and pass them to a court like the Hague as having been written by them.
Although, the Ruto team is upbeat about their chances of being exonerated, at this point in the case, I must state that he maybe in for a rude shock – There  is no substance in your defense. So far, your witnesses have not substantiated their statements. Without this, they bring no value to your defense. If I were Ruto, I  will be a deeply worried man and wont be celebrating. Get your defense team to prepare better. Otherwise, Ocampo will  have you prepped for the final
fry. And Mr Ruto, Keep your mouth shut, the jaws of Hague have a strong grip. You need more than mere  cries in front of the press to crack them open before they begin to crush on you. 
For more on issues affecting Subsaharan Africa, visit my blog at subsaharan.wordpress.com