Liberia, Aug. 6 -- To understand why Mark Kuiah's name keeps surfacing, it helps to understand what his job was. As Deputy Managing Director for Operations at the Liberia Airport Authority, Kuiah sat inside the operational chain of the one facility every serious trafficking route through Liberia's airspace must pass through. It was not his first posting at Roberts International Airport, either.

By multiple accounts, Kuiah's career at RIA stretches back to the presidency of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, when he served as Procurement Manager, before advancing to Special Projects Manager under President George Weah and eventually to the Deputy Managing Director post under President Boakai - a two-decade arc that placed him inside airport operation...