Problem
After installing python3 , I started receiving this error while trying to use pip to install a package/module.
I decided to go into python's REPL and import the ssl module and received and ImportError: No module named SSL
Most articles I read on the internet indicated that my distro did not have ssl installed. I checked the openssl version and it was an olded version installed
OpenSSL 0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 01 Jul 2008
I read on some forum that the python's version(3.6.1) I was using did not support this particular older version of openssl installed on my distro.
Solution
The solution was to install a newer version of openssl and rebuild python while pointing to the new installation.
Refer to this link to build openssl
Refer to this link to build python and point to the newly built openssl.
The version that worked for me was
openssl version
OpenSSL 1.0.2n 7 Dec 2017
Python version
Python 3.6.1