The level of lawlessness in Malta is extraordinary. It is a uniquely Maltese feature because everybody is aware of it, yet nobody in authority seems to have the will to do anything about it. Worse, such is the national acceptance of this state of affairs that the vast majority of people shrug their shoulders and look the other way.

From dangerous driving to illegal occupation of public land (for example the restaurant at Baħar-iċ-Ċagħaq, or the Polidano Brothers at Ħal-Farrug, or all the other planning contraventions), to illegal hunting of protected species and smart meter scams, there is little that escapes the opportunist and greedy in our country – confident that, given the irresistible combination of lack of political will and an ineffective Police Force, the arm of the law will not reach them.

A recent report drew attention to the slew of greasy, white foam with an unbearable stench which, five years after it was first noted, has continued to blight the once pristine bay at il-Kallanka, near Delimara. When the sea is rough, it leaves a residue of slime and foam on the beach. When it is calm, the pollution leaves a dark sludge across the surface of the sea all the way to Marsaxlokk. While it is not clear what the source of the pollution is, there is little doubt that it is being caused illegally. However, the Fisheries Secretariat appears to be doing nothing about it.

But the latest and most blatant illustration of Maltese lawlessness is the illegal roadworks which have been built on Comino, which is an ecologically protected island, a bird sanctuary and a nature reserve. Except for one or two vehicles, the handful of inhabitants have no transport. Everything required for construction or major maintenance on the island has to be shipped in, invariably from Gozo which lies just a few hundred metres across the water.

It therefore beggars belief that a track which leads to the Blue Lagoon has been levelled overnight into a road using concrete and the dumping of construction material onto the adjacent garigue without anybody apparently being aware of it. The more likely explanation, of course, is that in an island which is less than one-and-a-half square miles in size, those who committed this act of vandalism were indeed seen and heard. But those on the island when this act was perpetrated have chosen to remain silent.

In a near-farcical gesture of buck-passing, the planning authority has slapped an injunction on the Commissioner for Lands on the grounds that he is responsible for the public land and “no permission was sought from Mepa”.

It would be far better if Mepa – whose dedication to the enforcement of the law is, at best, weak – and the Land Commissioner put pressure on the Acting Commissioner of Police to get to the bottom of this incident as soon as possible and to take appropriate action to apprehend those who committed this destruction.

With a cast list of suspects stretching from the inhabitants to the deckchair and ice cream vendors at the Blue Lagoon to the hotel employees, it should not prove impossible to find the culprits.

Maltese lawlessness and the capacity for destruction of the environment are a national disgrace. Successive governments appear to be incapable of taking the necessary action to change attitudes and punish those who commit environmental crimes. A country that calls itself civilised and European – and its leaders – should hang its head in shame.

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