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Fact Check
A video of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake speaking at a public event, claiming that the reason to import vehicles for ministers is “because the new minister cannot sit on the seat where the old minister has sat.”
This claim is misleading. This is a video from June 2016, when the then government led by President Maithreepala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had presented a cabinet paper to get funding of approximately 118 crores to import new vehicles for Ministers.
A 34-seconds-long video of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD), allegedly justifying the allocation of funds to import vehicles for MPs in the 2026 budget, is going viral on social media platforms. In the clip, he is heard saying, “A new minister cannot sit in the seat used by the previous minister.”
The video is going viral on TikTok and Facebook and can be seen here, here, here, and here.
The claim was found to be misleading.
AKD (then leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and Member of Parliament) was highly critical of the cabinet paper presented by the Maithreepala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe regime which requested 118 crores (over 1 billion rupees) to buy new vehicles for ministers in June 2016. In the original video, AKD mentions that there is no need to buy such a large number of vehicles when the country is in debt.
2. In his speech at the annual Il Mahavihiru Samaruma (Il Special Commemoration Day) in 2016, organised by the JVP, he expressed the same criticism:
3. We noticed that this video has been going viral in response to the 1250 crore (12.5 billion) rupee budgetary allocation for the purchase of vehicles and machinery for Government institutions, including diesel double cabs for ministers and members of Parliament, in the Budget 2026, under the current AKD regime. News reports on this matter can be found here, here, and here.
In the budget debate on November 7, the President also mentioned that Ministers, however, will not receive additional cabs as they are already entitled to vehicles through their respective ministries. If a ministry does not currently possess a vehicle, one will be provided directly to the ministry, not the individual.
4. In relation to this allocation, Minister Nalinda Jayatissa also clarified that it can only be used in cases where new vehicles are absolutely necessary for state offices, and that, per state policy, neither individual ministers nor members of Parliament can import vehicles using state money, or special permits.
Last week, the National People’s Power (NPP) government led by President AKD presented the 2026 Budget to all members of Parliament and addressed any issues they may have, per the Appropriation Bill of Sri Lanka. The decision to allocate a large sum of money to import diesel double cabs for Ministers and members of Parliament has become a talking point among Opposition and members of the public, since the NPP government had in October 2024 claimed that new vehicles would not be imported for ministers under a permit system or otherwise. However, in August 2025, Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala claimed that the government is considering importing diesel double cabs for Ministers and Members of Parliament, and that a final decision is yet to be made.
The video of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake speaking at a public event, claiming that the reason to import vehicles for ministers is “because the new minister cannot sit on the seat where the old minister has sat,” is old. This is a video from June 2016, when the then government led by President Maithreepala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe received funding of approximately 118 crores to import new vehicles for Ministers.
FAQs
Q1. What does the viral video show President AKD saying?
He can be seen saying in Sinhala that Ministers need brand new vehicles “because the new minister cannot sit on the seat where the old minister has sat.”
Q2. When was the video first posted?
The video was first posted by AKD’s verified Facebook account on June 25, 2016, with credit to Ada Derana for the footage.
Q3. What was the original video about?
It was about the then JVP leader AKD’s criticism of the then government’s decision to buy vehicles worth over 1 billion rupees for members of the Parliament.
Q4. What has the present NPP government under President AKD allocated for the purchase of diesel double cabs for Ministers and members of Parliament?
The exact amount allocated for the purchase of diesel double cabs for Ministers and Members of Parliament is unclear. However, the total amount allocated for new machinery and vehicles for state institutions is 12.5 billion rupees.
Our Sources
Post on the Facebook page of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, posted on June 25, 2016
‘Anura Disanayake Speaks at 27th November Heroes Commemoration on 13.11.2016’, posted on the JVP Sri Lanka YouTube channel, November 16, 2016
‘‘No vehicle imports or permits for ministers: Ministers need to arrange their own transport amid economic challenges: Cabinet Minister’, published in Daily Mirror, February 6, 2025
‘President pledges cabs for Parliamentarians’, published in HiruNewsLK, November 8, 2025
‘Budget 2026: Double cab tender under P’ment fire’, published in The Morning, November 9, 2025
‘Minister Defends Government Vehicle Imports during Budget Debate’, posted on the Facebook page of The Morning, November 8, 2025
Misleading
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May 6, 2026
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November 17, 2025
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