The political will to enforce sensible regulations remains as weak as ever.

For decades, regulatory authorities have allowed crafty individuals with a perverse sense of entitlement to grab chunks of public land for themselves, blocking access to pathways used by the public and occupying public spaces for their exclusive use.

The blatant dereliction of duty by law enforcement authorities to protect law-abiding people’s rights to use public property can only be explained by politicians' fear of losing votes.

A minority of bullies believe that they are entitled to special treatment even if it means depriving the broader public of their rights.

This is transactional politics at its worst. Politicians turn a blind eye to abuse and grant impunity to the abusers in the expectation that they will be shown gratitude on election day.

Several decades ago, whole ghettos of shanty structures cropped up in some of the country's prettiest bays, including Mellieħa, Armier and St Thomas Bay. Various administrations tried to tackle the problem only to eventually give up as public land grabbers grew militant and threatened to punish any politician who dared to do the right thing.

Ultimately, these illegal structures were provided with electricity and water, making them permanent eyesores on our pristine shoreline.

In the last few years, this problem of encroachment seems only to have become worse. For instance, parking spaces on some of our most attractive shorelines are increasingly taken over by caravan owners who use the sites on a permanent basis as their second residence. 

Understandably, restaurant owners, sea sports enthusiasts and members of the public have voiced their protests against these abuses.

The transport and tourism authorities, and other law enforcement agencies, argue they cannot do anything to curb the occupation of public land by individuals who exploit loopholes in the regulations.

This lack of political will to take enforcement action also encourages private landowners to block public pathways used by individuals who love to ramble and explore our very limited countryside and shoreline. ‘No entry’ signs litter the land and are becoming increasingly intrusive on people’s enjoyment of natural, open spaces. 

Car drivers and bikers also feel entitled to use our better public roads as racecourses, some of them brazenly claiming that they have a right to practise their racing pastime.

The tolerance of arrogance and impunity in our country is not restricted to the business and political elite. It permeates society. It is depriving law-abiding citizens of access to the limited public spaces available on this overpopulated island, which is already taken over by others with a particularly acute sense of entitlement – property developers.

It is time for politicians to curb the abuses by those who feel they have some sort of right to deprive others of the everyday use of public areas.

We support all those NGOs that continue to be society’s voice of conscience by militating against those who take over land that belongs to us all.

We also call on the public to support these NGOs both morally and financially so they can continue to fight for our shared rights.

It is no use for the tourism authority to post impressive pictures of our pristine beaches on social media but to then do nothing about the multitude of caravan favelas that are cropping up on so much public land adjacent to the shoreline. It is useless to tout Malta’s beauty when a lot of it can only be admired from outside a ‘no entry’ sign.

Government and opposition politicians should urgently set an example by speaking out openly on the need to keep public land accessible to all.