Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been in the news repeatedly in September and October 2026, but only for court dates and investigations. On October 28, 2026, he sat in open court in Colombo as his lawyers asked for his overseas travel ban to be eased, as reported here.
Days earlier, a quote card had begun to spread on Facebook putting a political verdict in his mouth: that the country is heading for a bad state and that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake does not have the ability to govern it.
We checked whether he said this, and what his party says about it.
Social Media Posts
The card carries the logo of the Facebook page Kalmunai Today, is dated 25.10.2026 on the image itself, and shows Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s photo beside the Tamil line in quotation marks: “The country is heading for a bad state… Anura does not have the ability to govern the country!”
Copies followed over the next two days on Tamil-language pages, profiles, and groups. One page re-posted it as a news item headed “Gotabaya Rajapaksa criticises the Sri Lankan government,” and one profile cross-posted it into more than a dozen groups, including fan groups named after Tamil radio and TV stations. None of the post’s names when, where, to which outlet or at what event the words were said, and none carries a video, audio clip, or news link.
Facebook 1 | Archived Link | Facebook 2 | Facebook 3
Claim Under Test
Did former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa say, in October 2026, that the country is heading for a bad state and that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake does not have the ability to govern it?
Fact Check
No Media Outlet Reported Such a Statement
A former President calling the sitting President unfit to govern would be front-page news. We searched Sri Lankan news sites in Tamil, Sinhala, and English for the words on the card and for any recent remarks by Gotabaya Rajapaksa on the government. We found no report of such a statement, no interview, and no press release.
We also found no Sinhala or English version of the card on social media.
His Recent Public Appearances Were in Court and Before Investigators
Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s appearances in the weeks before and after the post were all in legal settings, and the reports of them carry no remarks from him to the media:
September 11, 2026: he gave a statement for several hours to the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) on the MiG fighter aircraft purchase, as reported here.
September 29, 2026: he appeared at the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court to give evidence online to the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court in the case over the disappearance of Lalith and Kugan, as reported here.
October 1 and 9, 2026: the Court of Appeal dismissed, without a hearing, his petition seeking to bar the CID from arresting him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in the Easter Sunday attacks probe, and he then appealed to the Supreme Court, as reported here and here.
October 28, 2026: the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court ordered the CID to appear on November 4 on his request to temporarily lift his overseas travel ban; he was present in open court, as reported here.
SLPP Spokesperson Says the Quote Is Fake
We contacted Sanjeewa Edirimanne, media spokesperson of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), by phone. He said the information being shared on social media is completely fake, and that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is currently avoiding comment to the media and in public.
He added that spreading false information about a man who is quietly going about his work without troubling anyone is an attempt to damage his reputation.
A Fake Gotabaya Quote Has Spread Before
This is not the first quote card to put words in Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s mouth. In September 2026, a card claimed he said he would govern well if the country were entrusted to him again. The same spokesperson confirmed then that he had made no such statement. Our report is here.
Criticism Exists; the Attribution Does Not
Comparisons between President Dissanayake’s government and Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s are a real line of opposition attack. On October 20, 2026, Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP S.M. Marikkar told Parliament that the government was following the same path as Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s, as reported here.
The card takes that familiar criticism and attributes it to Gotabaya Rajapaksa himself. No source we found shows he said it.
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Conclusion
The quote card claiming former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said the country is heading for a bad state and that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake lacks the ability to govern is false. We found no media report of such a statement, the posts name no occasion, venue, or source, and SLPP media spokesperson Sanjeewa Edirimanne told Fact Crescendo the information is completely fake.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s public appearances in this period were in court and before investigators, and the reports of them, by Newswire, NewsFirst and Ada Derana, carry no such remarks.
