Southern African Development Community

• Commencement of Direct Sales Operations in Africa, and Establishment of Branch Office in Kenya
  TOKYO, Feb 1, 2024 - (JCN Newswire) - Eisai Co., Ltd. announced today that fully-fledged operations have begun at Eisai Pharmaceuticals Africa (Pty) Ltd ("Eisai South Africa"), a pharmaceutical sales subsidiary recently established in Johannesburg, South Africa, and direct sales operations and business activities have commenced in Africa.
• Eisai South Africa is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eisai.
• Eisai South Africa has started sales and marketing activities directly for Lenvima and Fycompa from January 2024, as well as Halaven from February 2024.
• Seeking solutions to these challenges in Africa, Eisai will continue its initiatives to deliver necessary medicines to the patients who need them through Eisai South Africa and Eisai Kenya.

• At least two dozen presidential, national, regional and local elections are held across the African continent each year.
• The sometimes fierce electoral competition, a history of violence or vote rigging make it especially important to know that elections are free, fair and credible.

What do election observers do?

• Aligned observers usually support their governments, organisations or funding agencies’ policies.
• Observers cannot criticise a country’s election practices, electoral body or machinery – except discreetly.
• “Monitors” normally play an interventionist, robust role such as questioning election outcomes publicly.
• Unlike traditional observers, they may also lobby or agitate to amend or overturn election results.

What do they do? Why do we need them?

• They also assess a country’s ability to hold free, fair and internationally accepted elections.
• They provide an extra layer of accountability to the voters and international community on the conduct and outcome of the election.

How much influence do they have?

• Their presence and reports assure regional and international bodies like the AU, UN, Commonwealth and governments of the legitimacy of electoral processes and outcomes.
• Their reports may be referred to where disputes or post-election violence arise.
• Losers, on the other hand, might use them to support their allegations of election malpractices or rigging.

What standards are they held to; are there codes to observe?

Observers rely on international and regional standards and national legislation to do their work. For example, the Southern African Development Community has a set of election principles. Yet some countries flout or overlook the standards. This allows unscrupulous incumbents to win unfairly. Endorsing such illegitimate election outcomes can compromise the integrity of observers and the elections.

What makes them successful?

• Also key is their power of persuasion when dealing with contesting political parties, and election management bodies.
• Their mere presence in a country during an election can assure voters that someone impartial is watching the process.

Which are the common obstacles?

• In volatile countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Mozambique, Mali and Nigeria, observers also face rebel attacks, abductions and killings.
• The cost of organising and deploying observers, including providing for their daily needs and welfare, continually poses challenges for observer missions.

Which are the worst countries in Africa for election observation?

• But, in Africa, observers regularly risk dangers arising from political instability, insecurity, violence and other crises in countries like Somalia, Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, South Sudan and Mali.
• Election related violence in countries like Kenya, Uganda, the DRC, and Côte d’Ivoire undermines election observation.

• NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- G FUEL, The Official Energy Drink of Esports, is pleased to announce its sponsorship of the Farmingdale State College Esports Program, providing the dynamic Long Island-based Esports team with co-branded team apparel, G FUEL Energy and Hydration products, hosting on-campus events and offering career advancement and educational opportunities.
• "G FUEL is one of the largest Esports brands in the business, their partnershipwill propel ourEsports Program to reach its fullest potential."
• "Farmingdale State College is practically in G FUEL's back yard, so it's fantastic to see what their Esports program has become and how it continues to grow," said G FUEL Founder and CEO Cliff Morgan.
• As The Official Energy Drink of Esports, G FUEL provides gamers with a performance-driven alternative to standard energy drink products.

• Gurbhej joins from Goldman Sachs where he was Managing Director, Technology Fellow, CTO and Head of Lending Engineering for Marcus, Goldman Sachs' lending platform.
• Gurbhej joins Flutterwave, a $3bn payments technology company, to improve its architecture, grow its infrastructure and better support the company's growth and expansion objectives.
• SAN FRANCISCO, June 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Flutterwave, Africa's leading payments technology company, today announced the appointment of former Goldman Sachs' Managing Director, Gurbhej Dhillon as Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
• Gurbhej joins Flutterwave from Marcus by Goldman Sachs , where he was the CTO and Head of Lending Engineering.