Dr. Edward Mahama, leader of the People's National Convention on Wednesday deplored President John Agyekum Kufuor's absence from the 45th Independence Anniversary celebration of Ghana, saying, "no President who has the interest of his country at heart would absent himself from such an important occasion."

He emphasised that the President has no excuse to give because the Commonwealth meeting that he attended ended before the anniversary celebration and that he should have been around if he had the interest of the nation at heart.

Dr. Mahama was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra after the 45th Independence Day Parade. The President of America would never absent himself from the celebration of their Independence," he said

The PNC leader said what the President should have been doing now is to try to create opportunities internally to benefit the youth rather than seeking assistance from countries, some of which Ghana are older than.

He said Ghana is far from where she should have been in terms of development and technology and called on the people to continue to remain united and not to be divided by politics, in order to build the nation together.

He said what Ghana needed now is self-reassurance and to put the interest of the people above other considerations. Dr. Mahama praised the first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah for promoting the image of Ghana at home and abroad.