Kaʻai was a leading figure of a new generation of Hawaiian leaders, along with Prince Leleiohoku II (the brother of the king) and John Mākini Kapena. The king appointed him to succeed Kapena as Minister of Finance from July 3, 1878 to August 14, 1880. From May 20, 1882 to August 8, 1882, he served as Minister of the Interior. He was appointed as Minister of Finance for a second term from August 8, 1882 to February 13, 1883. An avid supporter of the absolute power of the king, Kaʻai once stated at a public meeting in 1880 after his first dismissal from the cabinet that "the King has the absolute right to make and unmake cabinets, and that no one has the right to object or criticize no matter what he does or how he does it." Historian Ralph Simpson Kuykendall notes, "This statement is of great interest, for it contains the very essence of one side of the constitutional controversy that raged in Hawaii for the next dozen years."
