By Ezekiel Gebissa
Addis Abeba – The passing of Andreas Eshete, a philosopher and former president of Addis Abeba University, has brought to light the significant life he lived as an intellectual giant and a very humble man.
I met professor Andreas in 2018 at a meeting in Addis Abeba. I never got a chance to get to know him better. Some friends promised to arrange for me to meet him on many occasions. One such promise occurred last June. But fate and time never converged for me to meet the scholar and the man my friends hold with great affection and gratitude. Now, he belongs to the ages.
In my view, Andreas Eshete was a leading edge of the Ethiopian Left, whose ideas and work defined and continue to shape contemporary Ethiopia. He is not considered one of the “radicals” of the 1960s generation. He was among the deeply erudite and cerebral cohort known for their perspicacious minds and idealist aspirations. His passing marks the passing of the “greatest generation,” whose brilliance, idealism, and sacrifice have no parallel in Ethiopia’s recent history.
Andreas is one of the lucky ones of his generation who survived the carnage of the Derg years and had a chance to witness the result of their struggle. When the opportunity arose in the early 1990s to “lay the past rest” and remake the Ethiopian state for the twenty-first century, he did not hesitate to tap on his erudition and make a positive contribution to his country. As such, he played a key role in drafting the Constitution that established the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
When the incumbent rulers sought to extend their rule beyond their term of office following the advent of COVID-19 through a ruling of the Commission of Constitutional Inquiry (CCI), many thought leaders testified that an “unelected” administration could rule for an indefinite period. Andreas Eshete became one of the few principled witnesses who defended the Constitution based on its original intent.
Andreas Eshete was a living symbol of his generation’s courage, integrity, and idealism. His death is arguably the last hurrah of his generation. Farewell.
