The Problem is not JK. The guy, by virtue of his position, lives in a bubble. He knows what he is told. So when it comes to vetting, leaving aside his political debts to the Asian heavyweights and his own political gratitude to CCM cronies, personal friends, "mashoriii", lobbyists have serious impact on the choices he makes when it comes to human resources. It is a fact that some ministers and his unofficial privy council and the senior civil service does most of the selection for him.
Think of it this way, if I were to ask you to choose between red, green and yellow, which would you pick? The answer is immaterial, the point is: what about blue and black and gold etc? When you think you have a choice, and you don't consider out prescribed candidates, you will pick someone that some people put infront of you. Its like airline food.
However it is true that patronage on JK's part has been a major set-back. Take for instance the Board of External Trade, kampa mchizi wake, jamaa mswahili mwenzangu ameharibu kweli kweli. Sasa vitu kama hivi vina affect sana utendaji, hawa kina Ngeleja wote ndio hadithi hiyo hiyo.
A machiavellian view of course would have it that this is political necessity to remain unchallenged within CCM. It is why it is done. It makes political sense that if your potential opponents are well fed, they wont take a bite at you unless they have an excess of ambitions. A wise leader would take action to make constitutional changes to make this kind of patronage difficult without acting in concert with the legislature. The US for example requires Congressional approval for all major appointments and although the President must have allies in Congress, it is inevitable that he will have opponents, who will speak out against any bad choice and either directly or indirectly (through public pressure via media etc) make it hard for him to choose unsuitable people. The system is not perfect but it is how democracy works. This is what Tanzania needs, constitutional evolution to strengthen democracy and make it impossible for anyone to take control of the State in a manner that is unconstitutional.
On the bright side, Uganda is exponentially worse than Tz, so although we could be better, we could ultimately be worse too. And it is rather amusing, once the Uganda oli wealth kicks in, their GDP will be much more than ours. Another Nigeria in the making.
So JK is to blame but he is also the subject of major lobbying and can not always ignore the suggestions because for one, he is not in a position to do the vetting himself. So the conclusion is that vested interests always come up on top, unless you have a president with busara na hekima zaajabu, perhaps on a saintly level (considering Nyerere kuchagua jamaa zake kina warioba et al. and that he is on his wa y to sainthood, maybe Jesus/God himself is the one that can do better..lol).
Kinyambiss for President 2020, I will fix all these things.