Background
He was born on September 29, 1919, at Essikado, Sekondi, in the Western Region.
He was born on September 29, 1919, at Essikado, Sekondi, in the Western Region.
Educated at St Peter’s Junior at Sekondi and Achimota College, Accra. He later taught at Aggrey College, Sekondi, while still studying privately for London matriculation which he gained in 1942.
Keen to become a soldier, he joined the West African Frontier Force in February 1942, rising to captain and company commander by 1949. He then decided to become a policeman, rising to an assistant superintendant in July 1951 and in 1954 attending the officer cadet course at the Metropolitan Police Training Centre, Hendon.
In August 1960 he was Assistant Commissioner of Police and commanded the police alongside the Ghanaian army in the Congo. He was Commissioner of Police (Administration), one of many deputies to Inspector-General of Police, at the time of the Ghana coup. In this coup, unlike the earlier one in 1966, the police were not actively involved. Robert D. Ampaw, the police chief, had resigned after a few months service to become “a lawyer, diplomat and head of external intelligence". Cobbina was appointed the new Inspector-General of Police. He now commands a police force of some 180 men, which is being rapidly expanded to meet a growing crime wave.
On January 29, he was made Commissioner for Internal Affairs, a job which he handles in addition to his police duties. He is also a member of the National Redemption Council.
Grand old man of the National Redemption Council, born nearly two decades before most of the young army officers. The police did not organise the coup, but it was needed afterwards to carry through post-coup administration and lend its support to the soldiers.