Presidential nomination letters came in official pink envelopes as standard procedure

Evidence

On the afternoon of June 5 Hussen came home from work and noticed a pink envelope with the president’s stamp on it on his desk. Pink envelopes were used for official mail only. The letter instructed him to come to the president’s office at a designated hour the following day. He recognized what this meant, since he knew that Sharamarkee had received a similar letter four years earlier. Hussen called Sharmarkee and asked if he could see him. He met Sharmarkee at his home and showed him the letter. Sharmarkee congratulated his old friend, but his body language was stiff and not what it used to be. Hussen asked him why he had thought, during an earlier road trip to Afgoi, that Hussen might be selected by the president. The prime minister responded by saying that he was among the strongest of the cadre and that he was qualified to take up the post. Sharmarkee then added that he must accept the nomination. Hussen left the discussion with mixed feelings, thinking that this was the end of an era. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 705

Categorization

• XREF: This nomination ritual parallels the account of Sharmarkee’s own appointment four years earlier, tying the 1967 handover to the 1960 precedent.