Evicted farmers described as 'squatters'

Farmers who have been tilling land adjacent to the Hal Ferh holiday complex in Ghajn Tuffieha were yesterday described as squatters by a government spokesman after they protested at being evicted.

The farmers, who have been tilling the land for over 30 years, last week protested after receiving a letter from Air Malta informing them that they have to vacate their fields by October.

Aurelio Sammut, Michael Chetcuti and Leli Muscat, three of the six farmers tilling the land in question, said they had been tilling the land for a very long time, long before Air Malta developed the former barracks into the Hal-Ferh holiday complex.

The farmers had been given the land by the government or other farmers who tilled it, who had also been given the land by Government. The farmers did not pay any rent and had been given the land under a precarium title, which means that they had no rights and could be told to move off at any time.

A spokesman for the Government Investments Ministry said, when contacted, that it was public knowledge that in line with its realignment towards its core business operations, Air Malta was divesting itself of the three hotels, including the Hal Ferh complex.

"As Hal Ferh will be sold as a company, all its assets, including the land it owned, will be transferred with the sale of the company. In view of this, Air Malta is carrying out all the legal and commercial preparations to be in a position to conduct this sale as part of its re-structuring plan.

"The vacation of a number of properties is among the preparatory work being undertaken.

"One of the farmers has a regular lease which expires on September 30, while the other fields are occupied by squatters," the spokesman said.

A spokesman for the farmers said it was an insult to call the farmers squatters.

"Those of us who have agricultural rooms there and installed water and electricity have been paying bills regularly for 30 years or so.

"We have tilled the land and cared for the fields. We have not erected any hotels on government land and sought official blessing. Nor did we build dozens of illegal boathouses as many have done. We worked hard and grew crops, and for this we are being called squatters," the spokesman said.

"This is really a case of being strong with the weak and weak with the strong," he added.

Another issue raised by the farmers was whether development should be allowed to be carried out next to the road leading to the dilapidated Riviera Martinique Hotel. Until now, their fields are a buffer between the main road and Hal Ferh.