diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0648bc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Version 0.3.1
+* make the certificate verification actually work
diff --git a/conjur/api.py b/conjur/api.py
index 5eb1461..8bcb366 100644
--- a/conjur/api.py
+++ b/conjur/api.py
@@ -110,9 +110,10 @@ def request(self, method, url, **kwargs):
 
     def _request(self, method, url, *args, **kwargs):
         if 'verify' not in kwargs:
-            kwargs['verify'] = self.config.verify_ssl
-        if self.config.cert_file is not None and 'cert' not in kwargs:
-            kwargs['cert'] = self.config.cert_file
+            if self.config.verify_ssl and self.config.cert_file is not None:
+                kwargs['verify'] = self.config.cert_file
+            else:
+                kwargs['verify'] = self.config.verify_ssl
         check_errors = kwargs.pop('check_errors', True)
 
         response = getattr(requests, method.lower())(url, *args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 5d0e3ec..0e709ea 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 setup(
     name='Conjur',
-    version='0.3.0',
+    version='0.3.1',
     packages=find_packages(),
     install_requires=open('requirements.txt').readlines(),
     package_data={},