The government of the so-called Gogrial State has not yet paid three months’ worth of salaries for civil servants, according to sources in the state.

Earlier last week, the Minister of Finance Kon John Akot said the salaries delay was caused by technical problems in the national ministry of finance, citing generator failure as the reason behind the January, February and March salaries delay.

He promised that the issue has been rectified and salaries will paid in a few days’ time though he did not mention when exactly. But some civil servants in the state say they will be caught unprepared as the farming period is approaching.

The state governor in his tour to the counties has encouraged communities to focus on agriculture as the only way to eradicate hunger.

Gogrial State is one of 28 states created by President Salva Kiir by decree but challenged as unconstitutional by a coalition of opposition parties.

Monitors of the peace agreement have called the creation of the 28 states a “violation” of the peace agreement. Salva Kiir says the 28 states are the demand of the people.

South Sudan's budget for this year was passed on the basis of a system of ten states, and civil servants are legally Warrap State employees, not Gogrial State employees. It has therefore taken finance authorities some time to work out how much money should be transferred to each of the new 28 states.

The 28 states themselves also lack budgets approved by the new state parliaments, so it appears that they are committed to spending money according to inherited obligations toward civil servants of the predecessor states, rather than using any kind of budget.