Retract your 'crime is everywhere apart from heaven' comment - GPCC to IGP

• The IGP is on record to have said crime is everywhere even in developed countries

• He said this to hit back at critics calling for his resignation over rising insecurity

• But the GPCC want him to retract that statement

President of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), Rev. Prof. Paul Frimpong-Manso has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), James Oppong-Boanuh to retract a controversial statement he made recently about insecurity in the country.

The IGP during his visit to the family of a police constable killed in the Jamestown bullion van robbery said calls for him to resign over insecurity were uncalled for because because crime is experienced everywhere apart from heaven.

He said, “We are doing what we can to protect the people of Ghana. There is no society in the world where there is no crime. Even in the USA, UK and Sweden, where they, more or less have everything, they still have crime. The only place that doesn’t have crime is heaven and we are not in heaven.”

This statement courted several words of condemnation from different quarters.

The latest to join in this condemnation and call for retraction is the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council. The GPCC president in a press statement said a call for retraction was because Ghanaians are looking up to the Police Service for an assurance of safety and not for their hope to be dampened.

"The issue of crime has no political colouration; therefore it is the responsibility of the ruling government to ensure the protection and safety of her citizenry, hence government should not read any political meaning into the concerns of the people. The Council also admonishes the IGP to retract his statement that “There is crime everywhere, apart from heaven,” the statement read in part.

The June 14 Jamestown robbery claimed the lives of a hawker and police escort, Constable Emmanuel Osei.

The robbers bolted with his gun and an undisclosed amount of cash.

The bullion van driver sustained degrees of injuries and was rushed to the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital where he received medical attention.

The police have placed a GH¢20,000 bounty for information that will lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.