In referring to the etymology of the word tribe, I was suggesting
that African ethnic groups/tribes do not always refer to themselves
in "trib-al" categories, even if, as Samuel Kasule correctly point
out, many do indeed characterize themselves in ethnic terms which
for historical reasons take the linguistic FORM of the word "tribe."
That a group refers to themselves as Baganda simply shows that the
ethnic group/tribe/nation etc. is a way in which they visualize their
identity in the polity. The term tribe with its ramifications was
overlaid upon a more fundamental group identification. I certainly am
not denying the existence of tribes: once something exists, even if
only as an idea, it can take on a material power, as Marx stated.
That these categories can be fluid is evident from Terence Ranger's
work in Zimbabwe, where some "Shona" peoples suddenly, overnight,
transformed themselves into "Ndebele" so that they could make use of
pastures reserves by the colonial power for "Ndebeles."
My own wife, who is a mixture of both these groups (in her words), used to
say that the only way you could really tell these "tribes" apart was to
look at the backside of the women..but that's another story!