there is this maasai I want to buy land from. He gave me the title and I proceeded to do a search. We then met to do the agreement and I learnt that the name on the Title was different from his real name. He explained that the name on the title was the original seller's and that he did not complete the transfer to his name since he was going to sell it soon afterwards and wanted to avoid paying stamp duty. Apparently thats what he does most of the time. I would like to know, is this a common thing ama I should run for my dear life?

Once when I encountered your kind of situation I dug deeper and found out the original owner who then verified the story then effected the transfer.
Meanwhile, with regard to a certain tribe being illiterate and thus their word qualifying for Gospel truth could not be further from the truth.
My travels in East Africa have taught me that they are more feared than any other person in land matters you may have heard of or dealt with.
They have realised their weakness and turned it into their strength.

Many Thanks to you all. I will insist that he completes the transfer to his name first then come with a new title in his name. If not, wacha ikae! In any case, the savings on the stamp duty benefit him, not me.
Thanks guys

@Gathige Spoke to my lawyer today and she says the same thing. Apparently we will have to draft a sale agreement that will include the original owner. I must admit it is not an arrangement I am entirely comfortable with but it looks like a good opportunity to me.

As long as you use a lawyer, you do the agreement with the person whose name appears on the title and make sure all the transfer documents are done, pay with your lawyer as witness, there's nothing to worry about. it might be true that the original owner had sold to the guy who claims the land, but if you are to pay, pay when both of them are present so that you do not have a situation where you've paid the one on title and he refuses to give the other one which triggers him to run and put a caveat. In my case, i actually gave my lawyer the money when both of them were there, then it was for them to decide whether to get into another agreement of the owner of the land passing on the money to the other guy (i wasn't part of that arrangement)....