South Sudan President Salva Kiir has quietly extended the period during which he was expected to appoint governors of recently proposed new states, following an executive order expanding the number of states in the country from 10 to 28.

The order was expected to come into effect on November 2, but it is currently unclear when it will actually be effected. Several officials and government critics attributed the delay to logistical difficulties and political concerns. 

“There are a lot of problems facing the president about this establishment order,” a source with working knowledge of the process said in an interview Tuesday. “That was why it was pushed to the parliament, where it was allowed to follow parliamentary procedures without his intervention and threats. If he were serious, he would have called an urgent meeting with parliamentary caucus of the SPLM members of parliament in the house.”

Agany Deng Kawac, a member of parliament from Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, said in a separate interview that the issue was currently in front of the parliamentary committee of legal and constitutional affairs.

“It is the request of the amendment of the constitution,” he said. “The order is what the president will issue on the basis of the recommendation of the work of parliament. This request is now still at the level of committee. It has not been brought to the house. When it comes, it will be a public knowledge and all media houses will attend the discussion, as usual.”

Agany denied that the president has succumbed to mounting internal and global pressure on him to defer the operationalization of the order.