Editor-in-chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper Kweku Baaku Jnr. has lashed out at the Deputy Minister of Energy who accused the NPP government of inflating an Exim bank loan to the tune of $102 million. Mr Baaku is incensed over what he says is the “kindergarten-style” of addressing issues adopted by the deputy minister. Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah told Joy FM’s Kojo Oppong Nkrumah on Tuesday the Mills administration saved Ghanaians an amount of $70 million after re-negotiating a loan amount of $350 million from the US Bank for purposes of extending electricity to the Northern parts of the country. He was reacting to a New Crusading Guide News paper report on Tuesday that the NDC was re-announcing a loan package that has already been approved by Parliament in 2008 by the NPP government. Mr. Buah posited that even though the loan agreement started in 2008, it was the Mills administration which “cleaned it up”, giving the people of Ghana better value for money. But Mr. Baako insists the comments by the deputy minister were “bloody lies” meant to rationalize an obvious untruth that the NDC secured that particular loan. Speaking on Peace FM’s newspaper review programme Kokrookoo on Wednesday, the avid critic of the NDC said the deputy minister’s comments smacks of illiteracy, ignorance, mischief or a combination of all. He explained every loan agreement signed by government with any donor partner, must as a matter of constitutionality, be approved by Parliament. According to him, if indeed the NDC government renegotiated the loan agreement, the details of the new agreement must be brought back to Parliament for ratification. He challenged the Deputy Minister to show where in the Parliamentary Hansard the re-negotiated deal had been documented. Tracing the history of the loan agreement with Exim Bank, Mr Baako said the initial agreement was signed and approved by Parliament in December 2007. But upon further discussion between the then deputy Finance Minister Dr Akoto Osei and officials of Exim Bank the loan agreement was enhanced. He said the NPP then brought the new agreement to Parliament which was then approved in August 2008. On allegations that the NPP inflated the loan, Mr Baako said that was an indictment on the integrity of Parliament and challenged the leadership to invite the Deputy Minister to answer questions on the allegations. Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana