Shaikh Idris would rather have a bad government than no government. Despite his fierce criticism of the Barre regime, Idris saw the semblance of statehood, order, and a functioning government. For example, “In 1972, I was a youngster in Qandala, a town 2000 km away from Mogadishu,” says Idris. That small town of 10,000 residents had a hospital, school, water services, a police station, and postal services. “I used to receive regularly letters from my brother who was in Europe,” he adds. That was a basic service from a functioning government that anyone must appreciate. “Now, in 2014, you can’t even have a letter delivered in Hargeisa or Mogadishu, the capital.”