TMID Editorial: In whose interests are the authorities enforcing?

A video issued by NGO Moviment Graffitti earlier this week reignited the seemingly endless debate on Comino, and more precisely the effects of mass tourism on the island.In the video, an official from the Malta Tourism Authority's Enforcement Operations unit was seen telling a beachgoer that they had to move their towel from where they had settled near Comino's Blue Lagoon because the area in question apparently belonged to a deckchair operator.He pays here, a Malta Tourism Authority officer can be heard telling the beachgoer, in an apparent reference to a deckchair operator. Find another place to go. If you want to stay here, we can call the police, the official told the beachgoer.When the beachgoer asked whether the area is public, one of the officials can be heard saying that it isn't.Graffitti said that from large mass tourism vessels, to kiosks and deckchairs, the Comino nature reserve has been snatched away by commercial interests.As the discussion on the commercial pressures - and deckchairs operators who seem to have a free reign to do as they please in Comino - raged on, the MTA and Tourism Ministry were forced into a statement where they said that Blue Lagoon and its surrounding areas were in fact public land and was accessible to all members of the public.They said that they take the concerns raised about public right of access seriously and noted that protocols reflect the importance of maintaining public access at all times, consistent with applicable safety requirements.Prime Minister Robert Abela meanwhile told journalists that the authorities had struck a fair balance in Comino as it had controlled visitor numbers while keeping public land accessible. Abela said that the issue raised by Graffitti was an isolated incident but he did not condemn the situation, instead saying it was up to the MTA on how to handle the behaviour of its officials.This incident has exposed one of the great maladies that authorities and its officials seem to consistently forget time and time again - and that is who exactly they are enforcing in favour of.Comino belongs to the people: to the Maltese and Gozitan general public. It doesn't belong to any deckchair operator who through some distinct coincidence seems to consistently be granted the concession for deckchairs at the tourist hotspot, and who is complicit in turning Blue Lagoon into a crowded hellhole of tourists, beach furniture, and pineapple cocktails.That is a principle that enforcement officers should certainly keep in mind. What guarantee do we now have that these enforcement officials are ensuring that the deckchair operators are sticking to the terms of their own concession, when these same officials seem more concerned with isolated beachgoers who dare to not rent a deckchair?Accountability and transparency has always been lacking in Comino. The findings of a carrying capacity study into Blue Lagoon remain the biggest secret since the three secrets of Fatima as authorities consistently refuse to publish them, while these deckchairs are renewed every year without a competitive tender process.A cap of visitors was introduced to Comino last summer, but videos show that the island still remains crowded - and because the carrying capacity has never been published, there is no way for anyone to know whether the cap, which is of 4,000 visitors at any one time, is actually in line with what experts say it should be.So does this administration have the credibility and track record to really, properly, fix the Comino issue? Many will think that it doesn't. On current evidence, it's difficult to argue with them on that.