(7) Where it is necessary to deploy any part of the Defence Force of Malawi to counter a threat
to Malawi or to any of its allies, the President shall declare a state of national defence and shall inform
the National Assembly promptly and in appropriate detail.
(8) If a declaration of a state of national defence made under subsection (7) is not approved by
the National Assembly within seven days after the declaration, the state of national defence shall lapse
immediately after fourteen days.
(9) Where the National Assembly is not sitting at the time of the declaration of a state of
national defence, the President shall summon an extraordinary meeting of the National Assembly within
seven days to inform the National Assembly of the declaration.
[Ch0000s162]162.
The Defence and Security Committee of the National Assembly
(1) There shall be a Defence and Security Committee of the National Assembly which shall
represent proportionally the political parties having seats in the National Assembly, and shall have such
powers and functions as may be conferred upon it by this Constitution and an Act of Parliament.
(2) The Defence and Security Committee may be assembled at any time, notwithstanding that
Parliament stands adjourned and, where Parliament stands dissolved, shall continue to be constituted
until such time as a new session of Parliament begins and a new Defence and Security Committee is
appointed but no member shall otherwise hold office for more than one year.
CHAPTER XVII
PRISONS
[Ch0000s163]163.
The Malawi Prisons Service
13 of 2001There shall be the Malawi Prisons Service which shall consist of all penal institutions,
labour camps, special and secure schools and other institutions that are used to house, detain and
rehabilitate persons sentenced to imprisonment in whatever form such imprisonment may take, but
shall not include holding cells in police stations.
[Ch0000s164]164.
The Chief Commissioner for Prisons
(1) There shall be a Chief Commissioner for Prisons who shall be responsible for the Malawi
Prisons Service and whose office shall be a public office with such powers, functions and duties as are
conferred on it by this Constitution and an Act of Parliament.
(2) The principal responsibilities of the Chief Commissioner for Prisons shall be to ensure the
proper and efficient administration of the penal institutions that comprise the Malawi Prisons Service,
subject to and in accordance with—
(a)
the protection of rights and other provisions of this Constitution or any other law;