It is now obvious that the Kenyan authorities will not meet its November deadline to close down the sprawling Somali refugee camps at Dadaab by the end of November as earlier planned.
This is because Somalia is yet to guarantee basic social services for the returning refugees.
"Regarding the question of November deadline, it is more than obvious we will not meet it," Interior ministry spokesperson Mwenda Njoka told Reuters on Monday.
The disclosure is the first ever of Kenyan public acknowledgement that the set deadline would be missed.
Security experts and humanitarian activists have previously insisted that Kenya's plan to shut down Dadaab camps and send home the more than half a million refugees within the time frame was impractical.
It has been widely said that many Somalis who fled the war-torn country would not voluntarily return until when the overall security of the nation had improved, with more basic services as schools and clinics being put in place. At the moment, Somalia's government is still battling with the Al-Shabaab insurgency groups.
Kenya, through its Interior Ministry, had said it was more determined to shut down the camps, where some older refugee families have lived for up to quarter of a century.