MP's at the RA National Assembly will be off for vacation during the next three months and will not have to show up at legislative sessions once every two weeks.

Some MP's, it seems, are on constant vacation. Those with outside business interests hardly show up for work at the parliament and couldn't care less about the "measly" 315,000 AMD monthly salary. They have more profitable business deals to hammer out.

No wonder that the more "entrepreneurial" MP's try all the tricks to avoid showing up at the parliament.

Would you be surprised to learn that some even go so far as to get a "doctor's note" excusing them from their legislative duties?

Those claiming a variety of maladies include Tigran Arzakantsyan, Haroutyun Pamboukyan, Samvel Aleksanyan, Levon Sargsyan, Ruben Hayrapetyan, Sedrak Saroyan, Mikayel Vardanyan...

Even though last week saw the close of the National Assembly's ninth session of the fourth convocation, MP's will still be obligated to show up at the parliament to present draft bills or participate in the workings of the various committees. But try telling that to legislators like Samvel Aleksanyan or Levon Sargsyan.

And don't even mention the normal procedure of staying in contact with voters in your district. Do you really think they give these concerns a second thought?

National Assembly President Hovik Abrahamyan tends to believe that their doctor's notes are above board. He criticized us reporters instead for not believing that our MP's are actually sick and need to recuperate.

Sure when the TV cameras are turned on our 131 MP's come across with serious, hard-working faces, ready to tackle the issues of the day. All it takes, however, is to step inside the parliament for these positive impressions to be dispelled.

Many MP's just show up for the fun of it. They like to vote for bills proposed by the government and reject those brought to the floor by the opposition. They don't even get acquainted with the bills.

As independent MP Tigran Torosyan (and former National Assembly President) puts it most of the delegates vote the way they are told, and it's the government that tells them how to vote.

Statistics show that it's the executive branch that proposes 70% of all the draft legislation. All the MP's have to do is sit back and vote accordingly.

At best, the MP's make some minor cosmetic changes to the bill. This is the extent of their legislative service.

There is then a rush to leave the chamber. Some retire to their offices for a well deserved shot of whiskey, others make a bee-line to a favourite restaurant and a few work on getting beneficial business legislation to the parliament floor.

Those left are the opposition ARF MP's and a handful of coalition MP's. Heritage Party delegates have long since decided to boycott the sessions.

Reporters are only allowed into the parliament during the first thirty minutes of any session. We then have to leave and watch the proceedings from separate monitoring rooms outside.

The antics inside never cease to amaze me.

Some MP's play games on their cell phones and some seem to be napping on their cushy Chinese imported chairs.

Many of the MP's like to while away the time in friendly banter with neighbours and cast votes for them if others are absent.

Prosperous Party MP Robert Zakaryan deems it his sacred duty to press the voting button for Vahagn Makhsoudyan, who sits next to him, whenever he is absent.

Republican Party MP Galust Sahakyan does the same for Edward Sharmazanov.

As of October, 2010, the MP's have been "working" in a renovated and modernized parliament chamber.

The RA government funded renovations to the tune of 481 million AMD. In addition, the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) allocated $500,000 to refurbish the chamber with the latest technical equipment.

You would think that all this money would spur our legislators to actually get down to the business at hand. No such luck.

Sure, the parliament is my beat as a reporter.

But don't think I derive any pleasure from covering the goings on at the National Assembly.

After reading just some of what goes on inside, I'm sure you'll understand why.