Kinango MP Gonzi Rai is facing an uphill task to defend his seat on a Jubilee Party ticket. [Photo/Star.]
He may be a veteran in Kwale politics, but Kinango MP Gonzi Rai is facing an acid test in his decades-long political career even as he seeks re-election during the August 8 poll.
Since coming into office on a KANU ticket in 1992, Rai has only lost the election once, in 1997, when he lost to Simeon Mkalla.
However, he managed to recapture the seat in 2002 when he survived the NARC wave in the region to clinch the seat on Ford People party ticket.
He defended the seat on the same party in 2007 where he survived another wave, this time from ODM.
In 2013, he once again defied all odds to defend his seat on TNA party which was affiliated to Jubilee and in the process, becoming the only legislator in the county to be elected on a ruling party.
With the August 8 polls inching closer, Rai should brace himself for another battle with ODM's candidate Benjamin Tayari keen to send him parking.
However, the lawmaker is optimistic that he will retain his seat despite a strong resistance by his opponents.
As to whether Rai will be toppled from his seat by the ODM tsunami remains to be seen. But his mastery of the county's political terrain may once again save him.