Unable to install any packages using easy_install

Question

For example, easy_install SQLObject, results in the following error:

 File "/usr/local/bin/easy_install", line 9, in <module>
    load_entry_point('distribute==0.6.28', 'console_scripts', 'easy_install')()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg/setuptools/command/easy_install.py", line 1929, in main
    with_ei_usage(lambda:
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg/setuptools/command/easy_install.py", line 1910, in with_ei_usage
    return f()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg/setuptools/command/easy_install.py", line 1933, in <lambda>
    distclass=DistributionWithoutHelpCommands, **kw
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/distutils/core.py", line 111, in setup
    _setup_distribution = dist = klass(attrs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg/setuptools/dist.py", line 225, in __init__
    _Distribution.__init__(self,attrs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/distutils/dist.py", line 287, in __init__
    self.finalize_options()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg/setuptools/dist.py", line 257, in finalize_options
    ep.require(installer=self.fetch_build_egg)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg/pkg_resources.py", line 2029, in require
    working_set.resolve(self.dist.requires(self.extras),env,installer))
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/distribute-0.6.28-py2.7.egg/pkg_resources.py", line 592, in resolve
    raise VersionConflict(dist,req) # XXX put more info here
pkg_resources.VersionConflict: (certifi 2016.2.28 (/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages), Requirement.parse('certifi==2015.11.20'))

Any workarounds possible? Has anyone faced this before?