Senator Anwar Loitiptip

Lamu Senator Anwar Loitiptip at Nanyuki Law Courts in Laikipia County on October 25, 2021. 

| Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group

Wherever Senator Anwar Loitiptip goes, controversy is never far behind

What you need to know:

  • The controversies around the first time legislator continue to pile with each day. 
  • For a man with such a public and scandalous private life, Mr Loitiptip hardly talks in the Senate.

When he was elected Lamu senator four years ago, after trouncing long-serving politician Abu Chiaba for the Jubilee ticket, Anwar Loitiptip, who used a motorcycle to traverse the vast Lamu County while campaigning, became a darling of the people.

At 28, not only was he young, but he was unknown, not having held a political position before. Automatically, he represented a bright future for the youth and became the poster child for the mantra ‘anything is possible’.

“I come from a very humble background. On the last day before the election, I only had Sh15,000 and I had to do all these logistics, but the people of Lamu understood me. They didn’t expect anything from me,” said Mr Loitiptip in his first television interview.

“I didn’t have a vehicle, I just used a boda boda and during the last days, I got a Toyota Probox. There are leaders who are chosen because they have a passion and I would advise the youth that this nation belongs to us,” he said.

But for a man who campaigned on a platform of humility and youthfulness and was one of the youngest legislators elected, the senator, who was arrested over the weekend over a gun incident, has become the latest example of how power can transform people -- and not in a good way.

From his scandalous love life, to fighting in night clubs, threatening people, and now the gun drama in which he is said to have threatened a woman in Laikipia, the controversies around the first time legislator continue to pile with each day. 

Interestingly, for a man with such a public and scandalous private life, Mr Loitiptip hardly talks in the Senate, where he is supposed to represent the people of Lamu as he promised he would when he was elected as the youngest senator in 2017.

“Lamu is number 45 in senate performance. I want to make the county top 10 in the senate performance within a year,” said Mr Loitiptip immediately he was elected.

Typical bad boy

Yet, the senator has consistently been ranked among the 10 senators who have made the least contribution in the Senate. This is according to Mzalendo Trust, a parliamentary monitoring organisation that has been releasing a scorecard highlighting the performance of MPs since 2014.

Just last week, the senator allegedly kicked and harassed a man identified as Francis Mugo at the Manda Airport Jetty threatening to throw him into the ocean, minutes after Deputy President William Ruto, who had visited Lamu, left for Nairobi.

Mr Mugo, who is eyeing the Lamu senatorial seat, was treated for hand and hip injuries at the King Fahad County Hospital before he reported the incident to the Lamu Central Police Station under OB number 26/19/10/2021.

“He forcibly took my phone, which I was using. In the process, he broke my eyeglasses and injured me in the right hand and left eye,” Mr Mugo told the Nation, adding, “he harassed me by trying to throw me into the ocean at the jetty, but I was lucky he didn't succeed.”

Mr Loitiptip dismissed Mr Mugo’s allegations, terming them malicious.

“That man is just looking for sympathy and to tarnish my name, but I will ignore him. You can imagine how unfair it is for someone to come and gate-crash my function, then try to frame me,” he said.

However, as much as this year has seemed tumultuous for the senator, it is nothing compared to his first three years in office. In the three years, he was in as many relationships, some that ended controversially.

His first lover, Ms Sophie Mohamed, a police officer based at the Kasarani station came out publicly during the early days of the senator’s term, warning any woman who may have intentions of getting together with him to keep off.

When asked whether he is married or if he was dating, the senator said he was taken, and he had a child with Ms Mohamed.

Nightclub fight

“She is all I wanted in a woman, in fact, I cannot choose another woman over her. I know that being a public figure has its challenges like dealing with stalkers, but they can try another senator since I am not in the market,” Mr Loitiptip told the Nairobian at the time.

However, a few months after that interview, the senator was involved in an altercation at the Memphis night club in Roysambu, Nairobi, where the fact that he was involved with another woman was exposed.

This time, it was then-Nairobi governor Mike Sonko’s daughter Saumu Mbuvi, who was on the way to overtaking Ms Mohamed in Mr Loitiptip’s heart. According to a statement recorded at the Kasarani police station, Ms Mbuvi was in the washroom, when a man confronted her, attracting the attention of the senator, who came to her rescue. 

The man left, but waited for them at the parking lot with a gang, which assaulted the senator, leaving him badly injured. Mr Loitiptip spent days in hospital where upon being released, he admitted publicly that he was in a relationship with Mr Sonko’s daughter.

But even before the two love birds could cement their relationship, another woman, Ms Hanifa Were, claimed that the senator had made her pregnant and then abandoned her.

“He inboxed me through Messenger after seeing my Facebook page. At first he told me he had a business idea he wanted to share with me, but things changed later when we met,” said Ms Were.

“I thought we could have a relationship, but I realised after a week that it was not going to work,” responded the senator.

Despite Ms Were’s claims, the senator and Ms Mbuvi’s relationship progressed for about a year. They even had a baby, before it reached an abrupt end. Mr Loitiptip was, according to Ms Mbuvi, not only a violent man, but he was also hitting on her friends. 

One of these friends; Ms Aidah Bambii, is currently in a relationship with the senator and as expected, their lives are aired on their social media pages for everyone to see.