The articles ‘Mayor silent on Ayia Napa youth “delegation”’ (September 18) and ‘St Paul’s Bay council probed over “holiday”’ (September 28) are based on several incorrect facts and put the local council in bad light.

It is not true that the delegation to Ayia Napa was organised without the knowledge of all council members and that no programme of activities was presented to the council.

On June 17, a public call for a youth ambassador was issued by the council. Two applications were submitted. A youth ambassador was elected at the meeting of July 18 and, subsequently, at the meeting of August 7, the council unanimously approved the allocation of €5,000 towards projects involving youths.

In the meantime, the youth ambassador, together with the other applicant, formed a youths committee composed of other youths from the locality who met informally on several occasions. The youths committee was eventually approved by the council on September 5.

During that same meeting, the youth ambassador proposed a programme of activities for the council’s approval. One of the proposed activities was the visit to Ayia Napa. The programme of activities was approved by all the council members bar one, who voted against.

The above activities were duly put on the relative agendas, which were circulated to all councillors according to law. The articles in question also give the impression that the youths attended a “paid holiday disguised as an official delegation”. This is simply not true because the visit was, in fact, an official delegation organised in liaison with the Ayia Napa Youth Council.

During their stay, the youths visited places of cultural significance, held several clean-ups and had an official meeting with the mayor of Ayia Napa Yannis Karousos and youth committee president Constantinos Zannetos.

Furthermore, the image accompanying the article of September 18 was manipulated and adulterated with the words “your holiday”. This is another clear indication that the information given to your paper is erroneous and misleading, with the sole scope of undermining the good work being carried out by the council.

In light of the above, it is evident that the local council acted in full conformity of the law and the information contained in the articles mentioned above is manifestly incorrect.

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