Girma Zewdie, AU Career Officer, Serves His Last

Girma Zewdie (Col.) had never seen the need to be anything less than active, even in his mid-80s. He remained nimble into old age as best as he could. There was never a better demonstration than the fact that he insisted on driving himself wherever he needed to go. In fact, he took it a step further.

Does anybody he knows need a ride?

Leave it to Girma, who would give a ride to anyone that needs it, including his niece, Abaynesh Hailu. His loved ones had to insist that he stop, which he paid no heed to until his health began to fail, before he eventually passed away on February 28, 2022, and was laid to rest a couple of days later, on the 126th anniversary of the Victory of Adwa.

Perhaps none of this is surprising for a man that served in the security service his entire professional life and had the temperament to remain agile in mind and body. Even his spirits were not sapped. He foreswore help as much as possible, instead insisting on helping others himself. Despite being a retiree, he would insist on paying if he was having lunch with friends. Most of all, he remained jovial and sought to be a friend to the rich as much as the poor.

“From his funeral, you could tell what a diverse group of people connected with him,” says Abaynesh, whom he raised from age six.

Girma will be best remembered for his service in coordinating and organising security and intelligence at the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). But it was a long road before his legacy would be cemented.

Born in present-day Oromia Regional State, he joined the security services very early in life. At 16, he was accepted into the Ethiopian Police University College, then known as the Aba Dina Police College, whose main campus is located in the outskirts of Addis Abeba. The institution, which had Swedish instructors, was not even a decade old when Girma joined.

By the end of his studies, he became a deputy lieutenant. Still, he stayed put at the college and taught future police officers for seven years. A colleague of his, Mersha Wedajo (Col.), saw Girma grow from a fresh-faced teen to a professional officer.