EARLIER this week, the Minister of Green Economy and Environment Collins Nzovu found himself in a precarious situation when he visited a Sugilite mine in Muombe village, Luapula Province. What was supposed to be a simple inspection exercise quickly turned into a fracas as villagers, upon seeing the Minister’s motorcade drive to the mine, mobilised to block the road in a bid to confront the government official and his entourage. The mob stopped Nzovu’s motorcade on its way back from the mine and in the confrontation that followed a journalist who tried to take video footage of the incident was roughed up by some of the villagers who sought to confiscate his camera. The journalist ended up sustaining bruises in...